Hustler for The Win

 

On this day in 1961, Major Henry J. Deutschendorf, United States Air Force, 43rd Bomb Wing, Strategic Air Command, flew from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, to Edwards Air Force Base, California, with a Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, serial number 59-2442, named Untouchable (above). He flew two laps of a 1,000 kilometer circuit between Edwards and Yuma, establishing six new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) speed records at an average of 1,061.81 miles per hour. Major Deutschendorf and his crew, Captain Raymond R. Wagener, Defensive Systems Officer, and Captain William L. Polhemus, Radar Navigator/Bombardier, were each awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The delta-winged plane did not have a stellar safety record with takeoffs and landings being particularly dangerous. Whether due to political preferences, advancements in radar detection, or a combination of both, all were withdrawn from active service by 1970. Untouchable was sent to The Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona, in 1969. It was scrapped in 1977. Convair built 116 Hustlers. 

Some Records Are Inevitably Broken

 

On this date in 1952, Captain James Slade Nash, U.S. Air Force, a test pilot at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, flew a North American Aviation F-86D-20-NA Sabre Dog, 51-2945, to a FAI World Absolute Speed Record at the Salton Sea, in the Colorado Desert of southeastern California, few miles east of Palm Springs. Under less than ideal conditions, the new international speed record was established when the Sabre Dog roared by at 699.9 miles an hour, breaking the previous 1948 record of 670+ miles per hour. Captain Nash barreled the interceptor four times over the course as close as 100 feet to the ground.

A Blériot Trophy Then Tragedy

 

In 1930, aviation pioneer Louis Charles Joseph Blériot established the Blériot Trophy, to be awarded to an aviator who demonstrated flight at a speed of 1,242.742 mph for 30 minutes. Three decades later, on this day in1961, a USAF Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, The Firefly, did just that. Flown by a crew consisting of Aircraft Commander, Major Elmer E. Murphy, Navigator, Major Eugene Moses, and Defensive Systems Officer, First Lieutenant David F. Dickerson, the Mach 2+ Strategic Air Command bomber flew from New York to Paris in 30 minutes, 43 seconds. Their average speed was 1,302.07 mph. The marble trophy was presented to the B-58 crew by Alice Védères Blériot, widow of Louis Blériot, at Paris, France, May 27. It is on permanent display at the McDermott Library of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Tragically, on 3 June 1961, the Blériot Trophy-winning crew of Murphy, Moses and Dickerson departed Le Bourget Airport for the return trip to America. The B-58 crashed five miles from the airport. All three men were killed and the aircraft totally destroyed.