The Convair Model 58-9 was a proposed American

supersonic transport A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupol ...

, developed by the

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...

division of

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 ...

and intended to carry fifty-two passengers at over Mach 2. Derived from the

B-58 Hustler The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air ...

bomber, it was designed in 1961 but no examples of the type were ever built.

Design and development

The Model 58-9 was Convair's proposal for the third step in a three-step program for the development of a SST based on the company's B-58 Hustler supersonic medium bomber. Derived from the proposed B-58C, an enlarged version of the Hustler, the Model 58-9 was anticipated to follow up on route-proving using an unmodified B-58, with a version of the bomber using a five-passenger version of its unique external weapons pod being an intermediate step to the final airliner version. Proposed during early 1961, the Model 58-9 would use the wing design of the B-58C, which would be mated to an entirely new

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

and tail; the airliner's cabin would be capable of seating as many as 52 passengers. The Model 58-9 was expected to have a

maximum take-off weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot is allowed to attempt to takeoff, take off, due to structural or other limits. The a ...

of , and would have a range of at a cruising speed of Mach 2.4. If the project had been approved, it was projected by Convair that the first prototype of the airliner could fly within three years of the project being approved, with eighteen months of flight testing, using four prototype aircraft, following the aircraft's maiden flight. It was expected that the

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 ...

would perform simulated airline flights using the Model 58-9 during its development.''Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News''
April 1, 1961, page 414. Retrieved: 4 December 2011

References

External links

{{Supersonic transport Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United States 58-9 Supersonic transports Quadjets Mid-wing aircraft

Design and development

See also

References

External links