Any old school jet guys out there? B-58 Hustler test flight wreck.?

My dad worked at G.E. for a long time as an engine designer. I remember Chuck Yeager, among others, having dinner at our house when I was 6 (1976 - nice photo of me on his lap in the living room). Dad told me a story about a B-58 Hustler during the initial testing of "fly by wire"controls. As they transitioned over to it in flight the aircraft started to pitch and yaw uncontrollably, shaking all 4 of the engines loose. The plane went down in a flat spin over the Nevada desert. Does anyone know the name of the test pilot? Or have any idea's on how to go about finding it out. All I get from G.E. is no answer at all from my several queries on the subject. None of my Dad's friends know either. I would like to know for my own personal reasons, this man was very nice to me (just a dumb kid) on the occasions that he had come over to our house. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Anonymous2010-01-02T16:31:38Z

Favorite Answer

If it was during flight test, NASA's Dryden center at Edwards may have information..

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/home/index.html

?2016-11-11T02:25:48Z

B-58 Crashes

jim2010-01-02T21:17:10Z

It was a test bed. Yes production B58s didn't have FBW-but that's not what he's talking about here. FBW technology was conceived in the late 1960's so a B58 kind of makes sense-though it's notorious habit of departed controlled flight when it lost an engine makes one wonder why that aircraft.
Check the NTSB and FAA archives-it wasn't a military test flight so they should have data on it.

BaronVonParty2010-01-02T18:02:34Z

The B58 wasn't fly by wire.
Copy and paste:

*********To next answer, the B58 was complex enough as it is. I have studied them pretty well (don't know everything though!) but have never ever heard of the Hustler being converted to FBW. The early AF experiments on FBW were done with a B47, which did not crash, it's in the AF Museum at Wright-Patt.***********

lakisha2016-09-12T20:56:48Z

I've been browsing the web more than two hours today seeking the answer to the same question, but I haven't found a more interesting discussion like this. It is pretty worth enough for me.

Show more answers (2)