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War Stories - The Day the Rubber Met the Ramp
By Dr. Raymond L. Puffer Air Force Flight Center historian
On the 13th of April, 1960 an Air Force Flight Test Center test pilot experienced the other side of evaluating high performance aircraft for the nation's warfighters. On that spring morning, Maj. Fitzhugh L. "Fitz" Fulton was conducting three-engine heavyweight takeoff tests on the B-58 Hustler. The supersonic bomber's revolutionary design and its four J79 engines gave it dazzling performance in the air but, as always, this came at the price of some tradeoffs in design. In order for the Hustler's landing gear to fit into the thin delta wing, it had been necessary to design a complex wheel arrangement. The four wheels of each main gear were divided into two sets with an axle for each set. Thus eight tires, four wheels, and four high capacity disc brakes were mounted on each main landing gear. The tires were small, and had a very high rotational rate at takeoff speeds that provided only a small margin of overload capacity. On the flight in question, Fulton reached his go/no go decision speed of 153 knots and, following the flight plan, shut down the number 4 engine. One of the main tires promptly exploded, leading to a chain reaction where six of the other tires on the same side failed in rapid sequence. Several of the wheels disintegrated and debris ruptured one of the bomber's two hydraulic systems, making it impossible to raise the landing gear. Fulton had no choice but to continue his takeoff and then see if some procedure could be devised to get him and his crew safely back on the ground. The only other B-58 pilot on the base that day was Maj. Charlie Bock, who was just getting ready to take off in a B-52 carrier aircraft for the launch of Maj. Bob White's first flight in the X-15. Instead of taking off in the B-52, Bock quickly jumped into an F-100 and went up to assess the situation.
Though a small fire ensued, there were no injuries to the crew and Fulton later shrugged the incident off as "Just another day at Edwards." In the meantime another pilot had replaced Bock in the B-52 and White's X-15 launch went off without a hitch. The following year, White went on to take the X-15 not only to its design limits but also slightly beyond; he became the first human to fly an airplane beyond Mach 4.0, Mach 5.0 and Mach 6.0. Fulton retired from the Air Force in 1966 as chief of Bomber/Transport Test Ops Division and moved north along Forbes Avenue to NASA. He eventually became chief test pilot at the Dryden Flight Research Facility, became project pilot on the YF-12A and YF-12C programs, and flew NASA's 747 Shuttle Recovery Aircraft.
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Fulton and his crew elected to remain with the aircraft and to bring it back home. In order to make a safe landing, he would have to jettison the B-58's large fuel-and-weapon pod in flight, which had never before been tried with the landing gear down. After burning off fuel for three hours, he made a successful drop รณ which also turned out to be the last time that feat was accomplished. He then jettisoned the two rear canopies and proceeded to land on a heavily foamed runway. Coming to a stop, he and his crewmembers exited the aircraft in very short order.
As for the B-58: The incident on April 13, plus two similar events involving operational planes, made it obvious that some means was necessary to provide for safe handling in the event of future tire failures. Accordingly, a non-frangible wheel was developed for the Hustler; a solid metal disc or flange in the center of each dual tire rim that would support the aircraft after a tire blew and allow the wheel to continue to rotate. Fulton tested the new arrangement later that year; his last sortie of the test series was the only solo B-58 flight ever made. The new "third tire" arrangement worked successfully and was retrofitted to all operational B-58s where it subsequently saved several aircraft. As "Fitz" put it later: "Everything worked out fine."
Peace was our Profession...