The Martin/General Dynamics RB-57F Canberra is a specialized strategic
reconnaissance aircraft
A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...
developed in the 1960s for the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
by
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...
from the
Martin B-57 Canberra
The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric C ...
tactical bomber, which itself was a license-built version of the
English Electric Canberra
The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...
. It was operationally assigned to the
Air Weather Service
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
for weather reconnaissance involving high-altitude atmospheric sampling and radiation detection in support of nuclear test monitoring, but four of the 21 modified aircraft performed solely as strategic reconnaissance platforms in Japan and Germany.
Three of the modified aircraft were destroyed with the loss of their crews while performing operationally. The remainder were re-designated ''
WB-57F'' in 1968.
Four of the survivors were subsequently used by
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
for high-altitude atmospheric research. The others were retired from 1972 to 1974 and placed in storage.
, three WB-57Fs are the only B-57 aircraft model still flying, in service with NASA.
Design and development
The RB-57F was the result of an Air Force ''
Big Safari Big Safari is a United States Air Force program begun in 1952 which provides management, direction, and control of the acquisition, modification, and logistics support for special purpose weapons systems derived from existing aircraft and systems. ...
'' requirement for a high-altitude reconnaissance platform with better performance than the existing and similar
RB-57D, some of which had been grounded as a result of wing spar failures. A more urgent need to field an aircraft capable of high altitude
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...
arose in 1962 when a SIGINT operation conducted by
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
against the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
from
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, ended abruptly because the Pakistani government evicted the Navy for committing too many violations of restricted airspace. Two B-57Bs dubbed "Pee Wee 1" and "Pee Wee 2" were quickly modified by ''Big Safari'' with antennas and a modular telemetry receiver suite packaged in a pressurized canister and sent to Pakistan in January 1963 as an interim measure under an operation named ''Little Cloud'' to continue the mission. In the meantime ''Big Safari'' authorized the ''Pee Wee III'' project to develop the new high-altitude platform from existing B-57s. Because General Dynamics was responsible for contract maintenance on the D model, its Fort Worth Division was given the sole-source contract for the development of the ''Pee Wee III'' RB-57F prototypes.
The two aircraft chosen for initial development were Martin B-57Bs 52-1559 and 53-3864, which supplied the fuselage and horizontal stabilizers around which the rebuild was made. The prototype RB-57Fs incorporated many major changes from the RB-57D, the most obvious of which was an enlarged computer-designed wing to enable it to operate at extreme altitudes. The wing had a span of more than , which was longer than the RB-57D and nearly twice the length of the B-57B fuselage on which it was installed. Extensive use was made of
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
honeycomb wing panels in the wings that bonded outer and inner aluminum skins to a honeycomb of aluminum and
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
. All control surfaces had tightly sealed gaps in order to reduce drag, and there were no wing flaps. In addition, the size of the
empennage
The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
was redesigned so that the vertical stabilizer had nearly twice the area of that of the standard B-57B. Its height was increased to and the width increased, improving longitudinal and asymmetric control for greater stability at very high altitudes (up to ).
[Grimes 2014, p. 62.][RB-57F "Canberra"](_blank)
. USAF Fact Sheet, Hill Aerospace Museum, USAF Museum System. Retrieved: 11 October 2015.
''rcn.com.'' Retrieved: 30 October 2011.
Another obvious change was the replacement of the Wright J65
turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
s with
Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-11 turbofan
The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...
engines. The TF33s gave the aircraft more than double the thrust of the B model. The RB-57F was also fitted with two detachable
Pratt & Whitney J60-P-9 turbojets mounted in pods attached to the wings outboard of the main engines. These auxiliary engines were air-started and only for use at altitude in flight. At altitudes above , the J60s generated about of thrust each and increased the maximum altitude of the RB-57F by .
To perform their Pakistani mission, the two prototypes were equipped with
high-gain phased array
In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving th ...
antennas
In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies a ...
in their wingtips, an extended radome, and a canister package developed by
HRB-Singer known as "System 365" installed in the bomb bay. The size of two drums, System 365 was a semi-automatic signal collection system that used 12 continuously scanning receivers and had a manual fixed-frequency coverage capability with pre-selected frequencies. The system automatically recorded up to six hours of collected signals on tape.
[Grimes 2014, p. 63.]
The extensive modifications of ''Pee Wee III'' resulted in virtually a new aircraft and new serial numbers for fiscal year 1963 were assigned to the 21 modified aircraft.
Testing and production
The first test flight of the RB-57F prototype was conducted on 23 June 1963 at
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. The prototype showed remarkable power, reaching in 18 minutes with a steady rate of climb of 2,725 f/min (831 m/min). Its RB-57D
chase plane
A chase plane is an aircraft that "chases" a "subject" aircraft, spacecraft or rocket, for the purposes of making real-time observations and taking air-to-air photographs and video of the subject vehicle during flight.
Background
Safety can ...
was unable to match it in maneuverability. The wing design created tremendous lift even at idle speeds; the aircraft was airborne after a takeoff roll of only at sea level. Because of this it also proved difficult to land, and if an engine failed during takeoff, TF33 main engine thrust was limited to 70% power to maintain directional control. Despite some shortcomings the design had shown exceptional performance and ''Big Safari'' authorized the ''First Chip'' production program in August 1963 for the fabrication of 19 more RB-57Fs from existing B-57 airframes.
[Grimes 2014, p. 81.][Halpenny 2005, p. 80.]
After its flight test program, the two RB-57F prototypes were sent to
Rhein-Main AB
Rhein-Main Air Base (located at ) was a United States Air Force air base near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was a Military Airlift Command (MAC) and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) installation, occupying the south side o ...
, West Germany in late 1963 for operational testing and evaluation (OT&E) with the
7407th Support Squadron, where they proved their effectiveness in flights along the German border at over , taking long-range photographs over the border into
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. They also flew reconnaissance missions over the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. They returned to the United States in February 1964 and were assigned to the
58th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
The 58th Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force squadron. Its last was assigned to the 9th Weather Reconnaissance Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, where it was inactivated in 1974.
History
Activated as the 400 ...
at
Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
. High altitude flights required the wearing of
David Clark Company
David Clark Company, Inc. is an American manufacturing company. DCC designs and manufactures a wide variety of aerospace and industrial protective equipment, including pressure-space suit systems, anti-G suits, headsets, and several medical/safet ...
A/P22S-2 and later A/P22S-4
full pressure suits,
[The A/P22S-2 was developed in 1960 for the ]North American X-15
The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. It was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed an ...
program and required five minutes to don properly (compared to 30 for its MC-2 predecessor). It was a three-piece ensemble consisting of helmet, coveralls and removable gloves. The A/P22S-4 was an upgrade placed into service in 1967 to supplement the A/P22S-2 and provided even greater mobility in the cockpit. Each came in eight standard sizes. In 1975 the A/P22S-6, providing 12 sizes, a heated visor and a feeding/drinking capability, replaced both earlier models. NASA pilots now wear it or the A/P22S-6A with a urine collection device. and crew pre-flight preparations were similar to those used by
U-2 and
SR-71
The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a Range (aeronautics), long-range, high-altitude, Mach number, Mach 3+ military strategy, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporati ...
crews.
[Fuller 1990, p. 361.][The main preparation requirements were no ingestion of medications for eight hours prior to flight, a high protein/ low residue meal (typically steak and eggs), a thorough flight physical, and air-conditioned transportation to the aircraft.]
The initial run of 12 aircraft for the ''First Chip'' program were converted from the 1952/1953 serial blocks of B-57B aircraft still on active duty, including the two sent to Pakistan as "Pee Wee 1" and "Pee Wee 2". They were delivered one a month through 1964; the last (''First Chip'' 12 and formerly "Pee Wee 2") was retained as a test bed in Fort Worth. The next four conversions were to RB-57Ds that were taken out of storage under a follow-up program called ''Second Slice'', delivered between April 1965 and February 1966.
The final three were converted from RB-57A aircraft and delivered in March 1967.
The converted RB-57As differed from earlier ''First Chip'' conversions by the addition of a Mk III Impact Probe in the bomb bay. In March 1968 the 63-13286 prototype was also upgraded to the ''First Chip'' standard and the two phases renamed in accordance with newly established ''Big Safari'' nomenclature that required two-word code names beginning with "Rivet." The ''First Chip'' aircraft were renamed ''Rivet Chip'' and the ''Second Slice'' as ''Rivet Slice''.
The production aircraft were further modified with new TF33-P-11A engines that delivered even greater thrust than those of the prototypes. Foil systems developed in 1962 for the
WC-130B to collect particulate debris from nuclear tests were installed in the bomb bay and the fuselage beside the cockpit. The wings had four hard points on which to mount the J60 engines and air particulate sampling pods, a gaseous sampling system was housed in the fuselage, and a KA-56 downward-looking panoramic camera mounted in the nose.
Two aircraft were additionally modified to carry the Bulova 707-1000 long range camera, which had a 240-inch (6096mm) focal length that resulted in its reference designation of ''Big Item''. These high-altitude side-looking cameras, secured by a roll-stabilized mount, could take oblique shots at 5 to 15 degrees below the horizon up to range from the aircraft and provide 30-inch (76 cm) high resolution images.
The electronics were also updated on the standard F model. The nose of the aircraft was lengthened to house sophisticated navigational equipment along with sensitive detection equipment for gathering SIGINT/ELINT intelligence. The cockpit was provided with a modified Lear MC-1 autopilot.
[Mikesh 1995] The average cost of each RB-57F conversion approximated $1.5 million.
[Approximately $11,000,000 per conversion in 2015 dollars using 1966 as a baseline.]
U.S. Inflation Calculator
Operational history
Weather reconnaissance
The official mission of the RB-57F was weather reconnaissance, and all RB-57Fs were assigned to meteorological units of the
9th Weather Reconnaissance Wing
The 9th Weather Reconnaissance Wing is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Weather Service at McClellan Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 31 August 1975.
History
Weather re ...
,
Air Weather Service
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
,
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's ...
, headquartered at
McClellan Air Force Base
McClellan Air Force Base (1935–2001) is a former United States Air Force base located in the North Highlands area of Sacramento County, northeast of Sacramento, California.
History
For the vast majority of its operational lifetime, McClella ...
, California:
*
55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron,
McClellan AFB
McClellan Air Force Base (1935–2001) is a former United States Air Force base located in the North Highlands area of Sacramento County, northeast of Sacramento, California.
History
For the vast majority of its operational lifetime, McClella ...
, California
*
56th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron,
Yokota AB Yokota ( ja, 横田, 與古田, etc.) may refer to:
* 6656 Yokota, an asteroid
* Yokota Shōkai, a Japanese film company
Places
* Yokota Air Base, a US Air Force Base located in Tokyo, Japan
* Harima-Yokota Station
* Iyo-Yokota Station
* Yoko ...
, Japan
*
57th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron,
Avalon Airport
Avalon Airport is an international airport located in Avalon in the City of Greater Geelong in Victoria, Australia. While located outside the Melbourne metropolitan area, it is the second busiest of the four airports serving the state capita ...
,
Avalon, Victoria
Avalon (post code: 3212) is a locality situated north east of Geelong, Victoria. Its local government area is the City of Greater Geelong and its Ward is Windermere. It is located on the northern shore of Corio Bay to the southwest of the stat ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
*
58th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
The 58th Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force squadron. Its last was assigned to the 9th Weather Reconnaissance Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, where it was inactivated in 1974.
History
Activated as the 400 ...
,
Kirtland AFB
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Ro ...
, New Mexico.
Air Weather Service RB-57Fs duties involved high-altitude atmospheric sampling and radiation detection work in support of nuclear test monitoring, mostly on behalf of the
Atomic Energy Commission, including collection of airborne debris in a program of ongoing monitoring of nuclear tests. Most of this activity was centered on nuclear tests carried out in
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, but monitoring air in the aftermath of U.S. underground nuclear tests was also conducted. One RB-57F is known to have been used for research into airborne laser equipment by the
Air Force Logistics Command
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
research laboratory at Kirtland AFB. In 1968, the Air Weather Service's RB-57Fs were redesignated WB-57F.
[Jackson 1989.]
Strategic reconnaissance
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's ...
(and its successor organization
Military Airlift Command
The Military Airlift Command (MAC) is an inactive United States Air Force major command (MAJCOM) that was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Established on 1 January 1966, MAC was the primary strategic airlift organization of the ...
) was frequently used by the USAF for clandestine, special operations missions prior to the establishment of
Air Force Special Operations Command
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, is the special operations component of the United States Air Force. An Air Force major command (MAJCOM), AFSOC is also the U.S. Air Force component command ...
in the 1980s. The RB-57F, with its extreme high-altitude ceiling was frequently used as a strategic reconnaissance platform. The four ''Rivet Slice'' aircraft (converted from RB-57D airframes) were equipped with covertly mounted cameras and assigned specifically to reconnaissance work in 1965, ''Rivet Slice'' 2 and 3 with the
6091st Reconnaissance Squadron at Yokota AB and ''Rivet Slice'' 1 and 4 with the 7407th Support Squadron at Rhein-Main AB.
[Grimes 2014, p. 85.]
The RB-57F prototypes (63-13286 and 63-13287) developed under the ''Pee Wee III'' program were detached from the 58th WRS after operational testing and evaluation and sent to
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
to replace "Pee Wee 1" and "Pee Wee 2" in ''Little Cloud''. The
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...
began while ''Pee Wee III'' aircraft No. 2 was out of the country and No. 1 was operated by
24 Squadron of the
Pakistan Air Force
, "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional)
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = ...
. Older accounts of the ''Little Cloud'' operation give the original reason for the RB-57F deployment to Pakistan as being the monitoring of Communist Chinese nuclear tests, which began in October 1964. The aircraft were said to have been flown by USAF crews during these operations, and one of the RB-57Fs was reported to have returned to its U.S. base before the outbreak of hostilities with India while the other remained.
[Jackson 1989, p. 125.]
Because the PAF was outnumbered by its Indian counterpart, and with U.S. concurrence, the RB-57F was reportedly impressed into combat service with PAF's
No 24 Squadron to carry out daily reconnaissance sorties over
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
airfields at altitudes of up to . The RB-57F was also said to have been locally modified by the PAF to carry a bombload, but never actually operated in a bombing role. On other occasions, the RB-57F was accompanied by a pair of PAF B-57B Canberra bombers (apparently the ''Rivet Flash'' configurations sold to Pakistan in 1959 as standard B-57s but modified in 1964 under a pre-agreement of sale to enable them to track Indian mobile radars)
[Grimes 2014, pp. 65 and 151.] that were jamming Indian military radio transmissions.
All three aircraft were involved in directing attacks on an Indian radar station at
Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
, and during these operations, one of the PAF B-57Bs was shot down in error by Pakistani
Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
. The account goes on to state that on 15 September 1965, RB-57F 63-13286 was straddled by two SA-2 SAMs as it commenced its descent towards
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
. Despite the plane's suffering major structural damage and sustaining over 170 holes, the pilot managed to nurse the aircraft back to Peshawar, where he made a successful forced landing. The aircraft was eventually repaired and returned to the USAF.
However, in a newer history by a retired ''Big Safari'' commander published in 2014, some of the earlier account is refuted as erroneous. The ''Pee Wee III'' aircraft arrived in Pakistan in March 1964, well before the Chinese nuclear tests began, not for monitoring the tests since the aircraft were not yet equipped with the sampling equipment, camera, or sensors of the standard RB-57Fs, but to collect telemetry from Soviet missile test ranges, particularly
Kapustin Yar
Kapustin Yar (russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...
. The aircraft were both flown and maintained by members of the Pakistan Air Force, not the U.S. Air Force, a condition mandated by the Pakistanis. The RB-57F prototypes, with the required capability of being a type that PAF airmen could fly, had been purpose-built with the telemetry mission as its goal, and the modification for carrying a two-ton payload in the bomb bay had been made by General Dynamics as part of its development, not by the PAF. From April to October 1965 the two RB-57s each underwent an annual three-month depot maintenance recycle at the General Dynamics plant in Fort Worth required by ''Big Safari'' rules, which was where ''Pee Wee III'' No. 2 was when the air war began on 1 September 1965.
One member of the USAF crew sent by the ''Big Safari'' office to retrieve the damaged RB-57 doubts that the aircraft was used in the role described as its sensors were tailored specifically for the telemetry mission and of no value in combat, and that it operated in an area away from Indian airspace. Peshawar is located from the closest international frontier with India and was almost from the nearest battle front, making damage from a SAM highly unlikely. The damage itself was largely superficial, not structural. Instead he states that he was told that the aircraft was damaged during an IAF air raid on its airfield on 7 September. It had been kept in the air as much as possible to protect it from attack but was damaged during a refueling turnaround. The damaged aircraft was returned to the United States to protect it from further harm and to process the sensitive collected data, which the Pakistanis did not have the capability of doing. Both aircraft were reassigned to the 7407th Support Squadron when 63-13287 emerged from its depot recycle. The ''Rivet Flash'' B-57 was overflying a Pakistani radar site at
Rahwali, from Amritsar, when it was shot down on 11 September 1965 by its own AAA, mistaken for an IAF Canberra.
The death of the PAF squadron leader flying it, who was the key Pakistani member of the ''Little Cloud'' operation, precipitated the rapid exit from Pakistan of the RB-57Fs.
The newer information is supported by the fate of 63-13287. On 14 December 1965, operating TDY from
Incirlik Air Base
Incirlik Air Base ( tr, İncirlik Hava Üssü) is a Turkish air base of slightly more than 3320 ac (1335 ha), located in the İncirlik quarter of the city of Adana, Turkey. The base is within an urban area of 1.7 million people, east of t ...
in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
as "Big Rib 06", it disappeared during a mission over the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
whose route passed through telemetry range for Soviet ICBMs.
[Grimes 2014, p. 66.] What actually happened is still uncertain. There was speculation that the aircraft had been shot down by a Soviet
S-75 Dvina
The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...
(NATO designation "SA-2 Guideline")
surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
, but the official statement by the USAF was that the aircraft was on its third pass along its route when it deviated from its flight plan, orbiting and spiraling down to below minimum radar tracking altitude, indicating that the aircraft crew had probably perished from an oxygen system failure. Although searches for the wreckage continued until 28 December, only small bits and pieces of it were recovered, although unsubstantiated reports asserted that the two crew members had been captured alive by the Soviets.
However one of the recovered pieces was an inner wing panel that a team of structural experts concluded was struck by an object, likely a missile. The crew was declared dead after being missing for six months. The Soviets used the incident to argue successfully against U.S. intelligence-gathering missions originating from Turkish air bases.
U.S. Air Force retirement
Single- and double-engine engine flameouts plagued the program between June 1965 and July 1967, when fuel control problems were finally corrected. No aircraft were destroyed but one was out of service for six months after it crash-landed in a field near
Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
. By May 1968 stress cracks began appearing in the wing spars and ribs of all the RB-57Fs outboard of the main engines and numerous groundings forced the cancellation of many operational missions. Some aircraft were sent to General Dynamics for repairs but under ''Big Safari'' dicta the cost of repairing all of the aircraft was excessive and resulted in five being placed in storage at
Davis-Monthan AFB in 1972 and another three in 1973. The remaining aircraft were retired in 1974. Each had accumulated on average a total of 3,000 hours of airframe life.
The 58th WRS, the last squadron in the Air Force to use the WB-57F, was inactivated on 1 July 1974.
Three RB-57Fs were lost in operational service. ''Rivet Chip'' 10 (63-13297) crashed on 7 November 1966 when it descended below its assigned altitude while on Instrument Flight Rules during a night approach to Kirtland AFB in bad weather and struck the summit of
Sandia Crest
Sandia Crest, also known locally as Sandia Peak or simply as the Crest, is a mountain ridge that, at , is the highpoint of the Sandia–Manzano Mountains, and is located in the Sandia Mountains of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States. ...
. On 27 June 1972 ''Rivet Chip'' 5 (63-13292) disintegrated when it entered a "
Mach tuck
Mach tuck is an aerodynamic effect whereby the nose of an aircraft tends to pitch downward as the airflow around the wing reaches supersonic speeds. This diving tendency is also known as tuck under. The aircraft will first experience this effect ...
" above an altitude of near Albuquerque. The crews of both ''Rivet Chip''s were killed.
[Grimes 2014, p. 83.] The third loss, that of the second prototype, was possibly a
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
casualty, also with loss of crew.
NASA
![NASA WB-57F (NASA 928) with WB-57 Ascent Video Experiment](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/NASA_WB-57F_%28NASA_928%29_with_WB-57_Ascent_Video_Experiment.jpg)
The ''Rivet Chip'' and ''Rivet Slice'' aircraft have been used by NASA in support of various research programs. NASA first provided funding to modify and operate RB-57F 63-13501 to support the
Earth Resources Satellite Program, with modifications taking place at Fort Worth between 26 September 1968 and 14 July 1969 as Project ''Rivet Rap''. Flying as NASA 925 and known as "ESA (Earth Survey Aircraft) No. 3", the WB-57F was used as a flying testbed for the evaluation of
multispectral sensors in a "near-space" environment to collect data to be correlated with similar data collected at low altitude and on the ground. The Air Force contracted with NASA to provide the aircraft on the condition that its sensor package be easily removed to reconfigure the aircraft quickly for its national security mission if necessary. The ''Rivet Rap'' was therefore modified to carry aerodynamically faired, plug-in pallets developed by General Dynamics to house both NASA and Air Force primary mission equipment. These pallets fit into the bomb bay and connected with existing electrical and cooling outlets, and had removable operating consoles that could be fitted into the back seat station in the cockpit.
[Grimes 2014, p. 93]
In 1972, the high cost to the Air Force of supporting the ESA No. 3 operation became prohibitive and the aircraft was transferred permanently to NASA. Two other WB-57Fs were transferred with the inactivation of the 58th WRS and eventually all those in NASA service were issued
FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
civil registrations.
["NASA WB-57 High Altitude Research."](_blank)
''NASA,'' 15 May 2012. Retrieved: 26 August 2012. They are designated the NASA High Altitude Research Project at the
Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...
in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, and operate from
Ellington Field JRB. Three of the four WB-57F aircraft used by NASA remain in operational service with registries expiring in 2021 or 2022, conducting a variety of civil tasks worldwide:
![NASA 928 WB-57F](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/NASA_928_WB-57F.jpg)
*N925NA (NASA 925), AF s/n 63-13501 (''Rivet Slice'' 3 and ''Rivet Rap''), retired 15 September 1982
[Grimes 2014, p. 94]
*N926NA (NASA 926), AF s/n 63-13503 (''Rivet Slice'' 2), registry expires 31 August 2025
*N927NA (NASA 927), AF s/n 63-13295 (''Rivet Chip'' 8), registry expires 31 July 2025
*N928NA (NASA 928), AF s/n 63-13298 (''Rivet Chip'' 11), registry expires 30 June 2024
For NASA operations, the aircraft often carry a three-ton (2,700 kg) data-gathering sensor pallet in the former bomb-bay underneath the center fuselage that can include the Airborne Remote Earth Sensing (ARES) instrument to calibrate satellite data, a combined hyperspectral imager/radiometer with a two-dimensional focal plane array, and a variety of cameras. During the
Space Shuttle program
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
, the aircraft were equipped with a special high-definition camera and other sensors in a specially adapted gimbal-mounted ball turret mounted in the nose, known as the WB-57F Ascent Video Experiment (WAVE) to track and video Space Shuttle launches and recoveries from high altitude.
On 10 October 2005, NASA 928 flew from Ellington Field via
CFB Goose Bay
Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay , commonly referred to as CFB Goose Bay, is a Canadian Forces Base located in the municipality of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by ...
,
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
to
RAF Mildenhall
Royal Air Force Mildenhall or RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a Royal Air Force station, it primarily supports United States Air Force (USAF) operations, and ...
in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
arriving during the evening of 11 October 2005. The WB-57F then flew four missions out of Mildenhall at up to in UK airspace collecting "cosmic dust". The Cosmic Dust Collector (CDC) mission uses two small metallic rectangular boxes carried under each wing that are designed to open at altitude and collect "interplanetary dust particles", or in other words the remains of small meteorites or rocks from space that accumulate in the upper atmosphere, on an adhesive strip. At the end of the assigned track the boxes then automatically close at high altitude and after landing the adhesive strip is removed and returned to the U.S. for analysis. The missions also allowed the WB-57F crews to validate new radios and avionics and ensure these could interface correctly with European ATC agencies. There was also an unconfirmed report that the aircraft also supported a
UK MoD
The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.
The MOD states that its principal objectives are to ...
assessment of future sensors for UAV applications in a European environment by carrying the sensors in its pallet under the fuselage.
["Martin RB-57D/F."](_blank)
''Spyflight,'' August 2008. Retrieved: 26 August 2012.
In August 2006, NASA 928 arrived at
RAF Mildenhall
Royal Air Force Mildenhall or RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a Royal Air Force station, it primarily supports United States Air Force (USAF) operations, and ...
totally devoid of all the usual identification marks, particularly serial numbers or NASA logos. The only insignia were a small U.S. flag on the tail fin and some even smaller flags beneath the cockpit on the port side. The lack of insignia possibly indicated that the aircraft was operating on behalf of another U.S. government agency. After some local sorties, possibly to test the onboard equipment, the aircraft departed to
Kandahar Airport
Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, also referred to as Kandahar International Airport ( ps, د کندهار نړيوال هوايي ډګر) and by some military officials as Kandahar Airfield, KAF) , is located about south-east of the city Ka ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
via
NSA Souda Bay
Crete Naval Base ( el, Ναύσταθμος Κρήτης, ''Nafstathmos Kritis'') is a major naval base of the Hellenic Navy and NATO at Souda Bay in Crete, Greece.
Formally known in NATO as Naval Support Activity, Souda Bay (NSA-Souda Bay), and ...
,
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
. The aircraft then flew a number of sorties out of Kandahar, presumably carrying a classified sensor package and returned to Ellington Field via Souda Bay and Mildenhall.
Officially, the aircraft performed geophysical and remote sensing surveys in 2007 for a coalition of scientists created by the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
representing the
U.S. Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...
, the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, and the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO), as part of the U.S. aid to the Afghan reconstruction effort. Through 28 missions, the WB-57 collected
AVIRIS (Airborne Visible / InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer) data that could be analyzed to provide information on mineral assemblages that could aid in resource and hazards assessments.
From November 2010 to August 2011, a WB-57 was deployed to Afghanistan with the High-Altitude Lidar Operational Experiment (HALOE) payload, surveying over , 10% of the surface of Afghanistan. An updated HALOE package has subsequently been installed in a
Bombardier Global Express
The Bombardier Global Express is a large cabin, 6,000 nmi / 11,100 km range business jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aviation (formerly Bombardier Aerospace).
Announced in October 1991, it first flew on 13 October 1996, receiv ...
BD-700 business jet.
Reports surfaced in March 2011 that NASA 926 was observed performing flights from
Nellis AFB
Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military Oper ...
testing a new sensor package being carried in its pallet system payload bay over the period from 15 November 2011 until 1 February 2012. Although the reason for the deployment to the
Nellis Test and Training Ranges (NTTR) was unknown, it was linked to testing sensors within the NTTR. Since both NASA 926 and 928 have carried
BACN (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node) payloads in Afghanistan performing
network-centric warfare
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations or net-centric warfare, is a military doctrine or theory of war that aims to translate an information advantage, enabled partly by information technology, into a competitive advantag ...
missions, it was speculated that the Canberra was testing new sensors and antennas used by BACN to relay communications between command and control centers and ground troops located within valleys and ridges in the Afghanistan mountains.
NASA 927 joined the fleet after being taken out of
AMARG
The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309th AMARG),[Offici ...](_blank)
storage at
Davis-Monthan AFB. The aircraft started its service life as B-57B s/n 53-3918 as a night intruder with the
8th Tactical Bomb Squadron and then was rebuilt as RB-57F 63-13295 in 1964. The aircraft was retired to the then
MASDC on 26 June 1972 and remained at the AMARC or AMARG until May 2011. The aircraft was then dismantled and trucked to
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is an American, privately held aerospace and national security contractor specializing in aircraft modification and integration, space components and systems, and related technology products for cybersecurity and ...
(SNC) at
Centennial Airport
Centennial Airport is a public use airport owned by the Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area, 15 nautical miles (17 mi, 28 km) southeast of downtown Denver, Colorado, United States. Loc ...
, Colorado where it was refurbished to flying condition and flown to
Ellington AFB
Ellington Airport
is a public and military use airport in Harris County, Texas, United States. It is owned by the City of Houston's department of aviation, Houston Airport System and located southeast of downtown Houston. Formerly known as E ...
on 9 August 2013. The aircraft was turned over to NASA and re-designated NASA 927. NASA 927 is now the longest aircraft held in extended storage (41 years) before being returned to flight status.
Operators
;
*
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
*
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...
*
National Center for Atmospheric Research
The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...
*
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
;
*
Republic of China Air Force
The Republic of China Air Force, retroactively known by its historical name the Chinese Air Force and unofficially referred to as the Taiwanese Air Force, is the military aviation branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces, currently based i ...
;
*
Pakistan Air Force
, "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional)
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = ...
**
No. 24 Squadron "Blinders"
Specifications
Survivors
;Operational
;;WB-57F
*63-13503 (N926NA) –
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...
,
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
.
["FAA Registry: N926NA."](_blank)
''faa.gov'' Retrieved: 28 July 2021.
*63-13295 (N927NA) –
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...
,
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
.
["FAA Registry: N927NA."](_blank)
''faa.gov'' Retrieved: 28 July 2021.
*63-13298 (N928NA) –
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...
,
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
.
["FAA Registry: N928NA."](_blank)
''faa.gov'' Retrieved: 28 July 2021.
;On static display
;;WB-57F
*63-13501 (N925NA) –
Pima Air & Space Museum
The Pima Air & Space Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the world's largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (320,000 m²) on a campus occ ...
adjacent to
Davis-Monthan AFB in
Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
.
"B-57 Canberra/61-13503."
''Pima Air & Space Museum.'' Retrieved: 7 July 2021. (unrestored)
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Fuller, John F. (1990). ''Thor's Legions: Weather Support to the U.S. Air Force and Army, 1937–1987''. Boston, MA: American Meteorological Society.
* Grimes, Col. William, USAF ret. (2014). ''The History of Big Safari''. Bloomington, IN: Archway Publishing.
* , Bruce (2005). ''English Electric Canberra: The History and Development of a Classic Jet.'' London: Pen & Sword Books. .
* Jackson, Robert (1989). ''Canberra: The Operational Record.'' Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. .
* Jenkins, Dennis R. (2012). ''Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits, Wiley Post to Space Shuttle'', NASA: U.S. Government Printing Office.
* Mikesh, Robert C (1995). ''Martin B-57 Canberra: The Complete Record.'' Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. .
*
External links
Missions/Research feature,NASA.gov
NASA Airborne Science Program
NASA.gov
WB-57 Experimenter's Handbook, Aircraft Operations Division
March 2015 revision. nasa.gov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin General Dynamics RB-57F Canberra
B-57F, R
RB-57
1960s United States military reconnaissance aircraft
Twinjets
Aircraft with auxiliary jet engines
Mid-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1963