- 2 hours ago
For educational purposes
At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, the U.S. and Soviet Union raced to build huge supersonic bombers capable of delivering nuclear payloads.
High costs and the accuracy of high speed cruise missiles changed priorities, and the U.S. bombers developed in the 1980s were subsonic: the low-flying, radar evading B-1B and the B-2 Stealth Bomber.
Featured Aircraft:
- North American XB-70 Valkyrie
- General Dynamics F-111
- Rockwell B -1 Lancer
At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, the U.S. and Soviet Union raced to build huge supersonic bombers capable of delivering nuclear payloads.
High costs and the accuracy of high speed cruise missiles changed priorities, and the U.S. bombers developed in the 1980s were subsonic: the low-flying, radar evading B-1B and the B-2 Stealth Bomber.
Featured Aircraft:
- North American XB-70 Valkyrie
- General Dynamics F-111
- Rockwell B -1 Lancer
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Neil Armstrong. Join me for an adventure through time.
00:58I'm Neil Armstrong.
00:59It was the first to strike any target, anywhere in the world. Strategic nuclear bombing became a global possibility. The
01:07arms race between the superpowers was on. The enduring B-52 aircraft, built in the 1950s and 1960s, has continued
01:17to perform conventional and strategic missions for nearly four decades.
01:29At the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command's order, B-52s were kept armed, fueled and airborne 24 hours
01:37a day in the 60s. It was the height of the Cold War.
01:41They were ready to strike back, should the Soviet Union attempt an attack on the West.
01:50The race was on for both sides to build the biggest and the fastest supersonic bomber.
01:57Because of the cost, Britain bowed out of the bomber business in the 60s.
02:01But the Soviet Union was willing to spend huge sums for development of its bombers. It was trying to counter
02:08the supersonic threats the U.S. was mounting.
02:13The Strategic Air Command's influence on the U.S. defense budget was so strong, in favor of bombers, fighter and
02:21attack aircraft development reached its lowest point.
02:25Out of its efforts came the U.S. Air Force's first supersonic bomber, the Convair B-58 Hustler, a four
02:33-engine, delta-wing bomber capable of Mach 2.
02:37Its first flight was in November of 1956.
02:57It had a range of 2,400 miles on internal fuel and could dash at speeds of 1,380 miles
03:04per hour to deliver its weapons.
03:07It was also the first generation of weapons system machines.
03:12Its droppable pod could hold an air-to-surface missile, a radar jamming device or a nuclear bomb.
03:20Once used, the pod could be dropped, freeing the bomber of weight.
03:25The B-58 carried a crew of three in fighter-style cockpits.
03:29It was difficult to fly.
03:32Experienced fighter pilots who flew aggressively and loved single-pilot decision-making did much better flying this bomber.
03:44It was an aircraft that could fly on the edge of existing technology.
03:49An adventure on every mission.
03:52But the Hustler was not capable of sustained supersonic cruising.
03:57It could only dash supersonic and needed refueling for every hour of Mach 2 flight.
04:03Supersonic flight brought a host of challenges.
04:06There was critical need for lighter fuels, better engines, and lightweight, stronger materials
04:12to withstand the huge stresses and high temperatures of supersonic flight.
04:17Neil Armstrong talked about the B-58 Hustler with test pilot Fitz Fulton.
04:26I'm sitting here with Fitz Fulton.
04:28Fitz, a legendary member of the flight test fraternity.
04:35You've flown a long time in all kinds of machinery.
04:38Well, of course, my area of, you might say, expertise or at least past experience was in the bomber business.
04:45In World War II, I flew the B-29s and the B-24s, not in combat, but in training,
04:50and then moved on to flight tests where I continued to fly the B-29s and the B-47s, the
04:57B-45s, and the XB-51.
05:00So primarily bombers along that way and into the B-52.
05:04What were the characteristics of the first big supersonic airplanes that set it apart from other aircraft that you'd flown?
05:12Well, I think that I speak specifically about the B-58, which, you know, became the first supersonic operational bomber.
05:21That airplane was very sophisticated.
05:25It had a flight control system that was much more complicated and much more sophisticated than anything that we had
05:31had before.
05:32It used computers, you might say.
05:35It was the first airplane, really, that I was ever acquainted with that used computers fairly extensively,
05:40not to the degree we use them now, but it was a breakthrough.
05:44It could carry an atomic bomb and deliver it on target where it needed to be.
05:49Now, that's one of its weaknesses is it did not carry conventional bombs.
05:55So it was designed for, you might say, one mission.
05:59One-purpose airplane.
05:59Yeah.
06:02After delivering 96 aircraft, the United States Air Force retired the B-58 in 1970.
06:21In the early 1950s, the Strategic Air Command wanted fast, high-flying, and supersonic bombers.
06:28What followed was a series of radical new designs and concepts.
06:34To go even faster and further, an aircraft was designed requiring this enormous propulsion system.
06:42But this XB-70 was too expensive and unreliable to be selected for production, and alternate concepts had to be
06:50developed.
06:54During the early 60s, the U.S. spent billions on supersonic bomber research.
07:00Out of this, not only came the B-58 Hustler, but the North American XB-70,
07:06a six-engine, titanium, and steel giant that could fly at three times the speed of sound,
07:1315 miles high, at the edges of the unknown.
07:16Its first flight was September 1964.
07:33The XB-70 was not only the fastest and most powerful aircraft ever built,
07:38it was also the noisiest, and it was so costly, its development took government spending to new heights.
07:46When Francis Gary Powers' U-2 surveillance aircraft was shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air missile,
07:53the U.S. realized that high-altitude aircraft were vulnerable to Soviet air defenses.
07:58Soon after, the XB-70 program was canceled.
08:05Test pilot Fitz Fulton also flew an XB-70.
08:08Today, most of our bombers are subsonic, but in that era, 30, 40 years ago,
08:16there was intense interest in supersonic bombers.
08:18What was the intent of the supersonic bomber?
08:21Well, I think the radar systems were different in those days,
08:25and the defense was to be fast and high, so that's what the bombers were designed to do.
08:33The B-58 did that, and the B-70 was designed to do that originally,
08:38but, of course, the B-70, before it ever flew, it was decided it would not go into production.
08:43It was going to be a research airplane, but initially it was to be a supersonic bomber.
08:48It was big, that was the thing.
08:50It weighed 540,000 pounds, all-out gross weight.
08:54It was 189 feet long, much, much bigger than that.
08:57Big, bigger.
08:58It was more like the size that we thought our supersonic transport was going to be.
09:04The cockpit was located way out in front of the nose wheel.
09:08How was it to taxi a machine like that?
09:11Well, you had to learn a little bit because you went by if you wanted to make a 90-degree
09:18left turn, as an example.
09:20Your cockpit went well beyond the turn point because your nose wheel was so far aft behind you,
09:26and then you made the turn and hoped you judged it correctly.
09:29But after a little experience, you got so you could do it very nicely.
09:34How was it to fly?
09:36Good, but a busy flight.
09:39Every flight was, every moment was packed.
09:41And we used the V-58 to chase it many times up to Mach 2,
09:46but once it got above Mach 2 at twice the speed of sound, then, of course, the V-58 was
09:51left well behind.
09:52But we used a control room the whole time that they talked, you know,
09:56they followed us and talked us through a lot of the maneuvers.
09:58But the actual handling qualities were generally pretty good.
10:26You had a series of tests that the pilot was doing, or you were doing,
10:29and the control room was expecting you to answer and coordinate these things as they called them out.
10:36And in the meantime, you were navigating over Mach 3, you were doing, you know, 30 miles a minute.
10:41Now, on one flight, in the early test program, we had the apex of the wing come loose,
10:47and a 22-inch piece of steel went down the right-hand inlet,
10:50and I was flying the right seat, and Al White was in the left, and that got a little busy
10:57for a while.
10:58I bet it did.
11:01While the XB-70 program was canceled, the U.S. B-52 was given a new lease on life.
11:08It was called on to fight a conventional war in Vietnam.
11:12There were few strategic targets.
11:14B-52s were sent on thousands of tactical missions over South Vietnam
11:19to bomb out large sections of jungle where Viet Cong might be hiding.
11:24Eleven B-52s were shot down in the first seven days of the 1972 Christmas campaign.
11:32Crews refused to fly.
11:34The tactics were changed.
11:36Even so, pilots still faced surface-to-air missiles, flak from ground artillery, and enemy fighters.
11:45The terror in the air and on the ground have not changed much since World War II.
11:52With no logical strategic bomber replacement for the B-52 on SAC's agenda,
11:58attention turned to an experimental tactical fighter,
12:01the General Dynamics F-111.
12:04The F-111 is an all-weather, swing-wing, supersonic aircraft.
12:09The U.S. Secretary of Defense in the early 60s wanted to save money, so a compromise was reached.
12:16Not only would the F-111 be a tactical fighter for both the Navy and the Air Force,
12:22but also a strategic bomber to replace B-58s and old B-52s.
12:28As a bomber, it became known as the FB-111.
12:32It had outspoken critics, including one general who said,
12:36it's impossible to mate a sports car and a four-ton truck.
12:54The FB-111 made anti-terrorism bombing runs on Libya.
12:59It bombed Iraqi positions in the Gulf War.
13:02And its accuracy in both cases was phenomenal.
13:13American pilots, Captains Daniel McCarthy and Jeffrey Wiseman, fly an F-111.
13:18They fly with the 20th Fighter Wing at the RAF base near Upper Hayford in the United Kingdom.
13:26The main feature of this aircraft was its new use of swept wings
13:30and its terrain-following radar, which allows the aircraft to fly all-weather and night-attack missions.
13:38In most fighter aircraft, crews sit front to back.
13:42But in the F-111, they're side-by-side.
13:45Sitting side-by-side has some advantages and disadvantages.
13:48The big advantage is the non-verbal communication and the ability to tap someone on the shoulder
13:52and point in a direction or point to a gauge and solve a problem quickly
13:55without having to talk someone's eyes onto something.
13:58The disadvantage is it makes it a little bit harder for visibility looking across the cockpit
14:02while if you're sitting front to back, that's easier to do.
14:05But I like being able to see the person and non-verbally communicate in a crisis situation.
14:11When you're flying the 111, the most important thing is managing the angle of attack.
14:15Because of the ability to sweep the wings, what can happen is if you're flying along very low level
14:20at high speed and then climb up with an abrupt climb and slow down your energy,
14:25if you leave your wings aft at a 54 or 72 degree wing sweep,
14:29the angle of attack can get very high.
14:31If severe enough, it can result in a stall because the plane just doesn't have the energy
14:35to maintain the wings at so far aft position.
14:47The FB-111 was the first variable geometry swing-wing aircraft in service around the world.
14:54Even more important was its all-weather navigation and weapons delivery avionics.
15:00It had the first TFR, terrain-following radar.
15:04It can fly hugging the ground, avoiding enemy radar and missiles.
15:09The FB-111, though it was developed in controversy,
15:13is known as one of the world's best supersonic precision bombers.
15:27The dream of high-altitude supersonic bomber fleets ended in 1977
15:32with the cancellation of the B-1A program.
15:36Designers then turned their attention to creating reliable alternatives.
15:41Two lines of strategy were pursued.
15:44The swing-wing, low-flying, radar-evading B-1B
15:48and the high-tech, subsonic, flying-winged B-2 stealth bomber.
15:58The U.S. Air Force continued to lobby for a strategic bomber
16:02to replace its aging fleet of B-52s.
16:06Rockwell conceived the B-1.
16:08The first flight of the B-1 was in 1974.
16:12It was to have a dual-role,
16:15a low-altitude, tree-skimming penetration bomber
16:17and be able to make a supersonic dash to the target.
16:21The B-1 was equipped with four GE-101 turbofan engines
16:26with full afterburning.
16:27Engine inlets were variable for speeds up to Mach 2.
16:31Huge development cost overruns during the Carter presidency
16:35forced it to be canceled in 1977.
16:42The manned bomber remained at the basis of Strategic Air Command doctrine,
16:47its reason for existence.
16:49The debate grew as unmanned, computer-controlled, high-speed cruise missiles
16:54showed they could hit their distant targets with pinpoint accuracy.
17:00They were cheaper to build and operate.
17:03And if that wasn't enough to seal the B-1's fate,
17:06you could hang and fire a cruise missile from the old standby, the B-52.
17:21However, in 1981, under the Reagan presidency,
17:25the B-1 program was revived in a more moderate version.
17:29The U.S. Congress authorized the building of 100 B-1Bs.
17:33Again, the idea was for the B-1B to replace those old B-52s.
17:40Design changes to the B-1 enhanced the B-1B's subsonic capabilities,
17:45allowing it to carry more fuel and weapons.
17:49It flew at low altitudes and subsonic speeds to minimize radar detection.
17:53The search for the fastest, highest-flying bomber had been abandoned.
17:59Neil Armstrong flew a B-1B after talking with Lieutenant Colonel Tim Bailey,
18:04squadron commander for the 338th Training Squadron of the United States Air Force.
18:10You've flown a variety of aircraft, everything from fighters to big bombers.
18:17Tell me what you think about flying the B-1.
18:20Well, it's a thrill. It's a great airplane.
18:23It has a lot of the characteristics of a fighter,
18:25but it has the kind of payload that you would expect from a bomber.
18:29It's a dream to fly.
18:33At times, it's a little difficult to transition for people coming out of slower aircraft.
18:38They have to pick up the pace that they do things at.
18:42What we see, though, is the fellows coming out of pilot training
18:45are used to this kind of performance,
18:47having recently flown a rather high-performance T-38 aircraft.
18:51I think, yeah.
18:51So it's not that big a transition for the young guys.
19:06Neil put a B-1B through its paces
19:08as he flew with Lieutenant Colonel Jack Wiley.
19:13He's a big sub-counter.
19:20He's a big sub-counter.
19:37He's a big sub-counter.
19:44He's a big sub-counter.
20:09technology. An advanced technology bomber was developed by Northrop under super strict
20:15security. It was unveiled in 1989 with great media coverage as the B-2 stealth bomber.
20:23Flying wing aircraft had been the dream of Jack Northrop since before World War II. His
20:30flying wing bomber of the late 40s was the forerunner of the B-2. One must admit it does
20:36resemble something out of a dream. Unlike a conventional aircraft, the B-2 has no tail and thus no surfaces
20:47to stabilize it in flight. Computer-driven controls make this flying wing design practical. B-2 pilots have found it
20:55a dream to fly until a computer problem develops. Then things get serious. Technological advances make the B-2 the
21:05highest cost aircraft
21:06in history. One billion dollars a copy. Many suggest that manned strategic bombers are obsolete and that future bombers should
21:16be equipped for conventional wars. The B-2 has gone the way of the XB-7. The program was dropped.
21:26That leaves the B-1 as America's main strategic bomber. Ah, but let's not forget old reliable. The B-52.
21:41Join me again next time for First Flight.
21:44E-T-R-R-O-N.
21:44E-T-R-R-A-N.
21:47E-T-R-R-A-N.
21:48E-T-R-O-N.
22:16Transcription by CastingWords
Comments