B 58 Hustler, The First Operational Mach 2 Bomber Made By Convair, Upscaled Footage

The Convair B58 Hustler was the first Mach 2 operational bomber. The B58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC). To achieve the high speeds desired, Convair chose a delta wing design used by contemporary interceptors such as the Convair F102. The bomber was powered by four General Electric J79 engines in underwing pods. It had no bomb bay: it carried a single nuclear weapon plus fuel in a combination bomb, fuel pod underneath the fuselage. Later, four external hardpoints were added, enabling it to carry up to five weapons. The B58 entered service in March 1960, and flew for a decade with two SAC bomb wings: the 43rd Bombardment Wing and the 305th Bombardment Wing. It was considered difficult to fly, imposing a high workload upon its threeman crews. Designed to replace the subsonic Boeing B47 Stratojet strategic bomber, the B58 became notorious for its sonic boom heard on the ground by the public as it passed overhead in supersonic flig