Convair Aircraft: Illustrated History Books & Guides

B-58 Hustler: Convair's Cold War Mach 2 Bomber (Legends of Warfare)

The Convair B-58 Hustler, with its distinctive delta wing shape, would become the world's first supersonic bomber, and the first aircraft to fly to Mach 2. With development beginning in 1949, the B-58, which could not carry conventional weapons, would become part of the US nuclear arsenal during the height of the Cold War.
Although these bombers were initially considered difficult to operate, in time the hand-chosen crews who flew them came to love and respect the aircraft. Throughout the 1960s, crews flying the B-58 set numerous speed and distance records. These planes were tremendously expensive to operate, and it was budget issues that forced the early retirement of the bomber.

The story of this historic aircraft is told through carefully researched photos, which are reproduced in remarkable clarity. Large, clear photos, coupled with descriptive and informative captions, unlock the secrets of this aircraft.

Product details

Author:	David Doyle
Details:	112 pages, 9.25 x 9.25 x 0.75 in (23.5 x 23.5 x 1.9 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	192 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing Ltd (USA, 2021)
Series:	Legends of Warfare
ISBN:	9780764361319

Convair B-36 Peacemaker Manual (1949-1959) - America's Cold War 'big stick' ten-engine nuclear bomber (Haynes Aircraft Manual)

Author David Baker offers an unrivalled insight into Convair B-36, America's 'Big Stick' nuclear-capable intercontinental bomber that held the line against the growing Soviet threat during the opening decade of the Cold War. He lifts the lid on the 'Peacemaker', bringing together several decades of research and investigation into an aircraft that bridges the piston-engine era and the age of the all-jet bomber.

With the aid of more than 300 photographs and detailed performance charts, he describes the design, development, structure and systems of the B-36 and its service with the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command at a crucial point in post-war history.

More information about Haynes Aircraft Manuals

Product details

Author:	David Baker
Details:	224 pages, 10.8 x 8.7 x 0.71 in (27.5 x 22 x 1.8 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	300 b&w and color photos
Language:	English (technical dictionaries in 19 languages are available for free download here)
Publisher:	Haynes Publishing (GB, 2020)
Series:	Haynes Aircraft Manual
ISBN:	9781785211935

B-58 Hustler (Pilot's Flight Operation Instructions)

The USAF's first jet-powered bomber capable of reaching Mach 2.0, the Convair B-58 Hustler carried a crew of three and a nuclear payload.
A complex aircraft, the B-58 suffered teething problems during development and became infamous for its maintenance requirements. It also compiled a dubious safety record: out of 116 Hustlers, 26 were lost in accidents. Nevertheless, the B-58's career spanned nearly a decade between 1960-70.

Originally printed by the U.S. Air Force, this flight operating manual taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Classified "Restricted", the manual was recently declassified and is here reprinted in book form.

Product details

Author:	United States Air Force
Details:	586 pages, 10 x 8.1 x 1.18 in (25.5 x 20.5 x 3 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	many photos and drawings
Language:	English
Publisher:	Periscope Film (USA, 2011)
Series:	Pilot's Flight Operation Instructions
ISBN:	9781937684938

B-58 Hustler Units (Osprey)

One of the most dramatic bombers of its day, the Convair B-58 came to epitomise the Cold War power of Strategic Air Command. Introduced only 12 years after the sound barrier was first broken, this iconic plane became the first large long-range supersonic bomber to take to the skies, a feat which had seemed far-fetched only a few years previously.
Outstripping its contemporaries in terms of speed, and agile enough to escape most interceptors, the B-58 was a remarkable feat of engineering, setting 19 world speed records and collecting a host of trophies. The first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 at 63,000 feet, it was able to evade hostile fighters and represented a serious threat to targets across the Soviet Bloc.

Supported by contemporary first-hand accounts, photography, and full-colour illustrations, this study explores the history of this ground-breaking aircraft from its conception to its little-known testing for use in the Vietnam War.

Product details

Author:	Peter E. Davies
Details:	96 pages, 9.8 x 7.3 x 0.2 in (25 x 18.5 x 0.5 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Osprey Publishing (GB, 2019)
Series:	Combat Aircraft (130)
ISBN:	9781472836403

Convair

After the merger of Consolidated and Vultee in 1943, Convair became the fourth largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States. The company soon gained a strong reputation for designing and building some of the largest and most powerful aircraft of its time.
From the XA-41 ground-attack aircraft of 1944 to the CV-880 and CV-990 jet airliners of the early 1960s, Convair consistently explored new technical limits. While some projects were more successful than others, all left a clear mark on aviation history.

Distinctive aircraft such as the turboprop-powered Tradewind flying boat, the F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart fighters, and the powerful and advanced B-58 Hustler bomber became defining Convair designs.

This book by aviation writer Martyn Chorlton presents the history of these aircraft and many others, supported by extensive photographs and clear explanations.

Product details

Author:	Martyn Chorlton
Details:	96 pages, 9.25 x 6.5 x 0.39 in (23.5 x 16.5 x 1 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	140 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing (GB, 2018)
ISBN:	9781445680873

Convair B-36 Peacemaker (Pilot's Flight Operation Instructions)

The largest piston-powered airplane ever mass-produced, the Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" was also the world's first thermonuclear bomber. The prototype B-36 flew in 1946, and was quickly upgraded as the need for a bomber with a large lifting capacity became paramount.

Yet, when it entered active service in 1949, the "aluminum overcast" was already considered obsolete. Nevertheless, nearly 400 B-36s were built and flew as strategic deterrents before the B-36 was retired in 1959.

Originally printed by the U.S. Air Force, this Flight Operating Handbook is an authentic reprint of an original. Classified "Restricted", the manual was declassified and is here reprinted in book form.

Product details

Author:	United States Air Force
Details:	490 pages, 10 x 8.1 x 0.98 in (25.5 x 20.5 x 2.5 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	b&w photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	CKE Publications (USA, 2010)
Series:	Pilot's Flight Operation Instructions
ISBN:	9781935327875

Convair B-58 Hustler

The history of the legendary Convair B-58 Hustler, one of the most interesting bombers to reach operational status, that had an appearance - even though designed in the 1940s - that would not look out of date in the 21st century.

The first USAF delta-wing bomber was the Mach 2 Hustler that had the performance of a fighter aircraft. However, its tenure was short due to technical problems and excessive costs. The majority of Hustlers met their demise in the late 1960s, but a few remain at museums across the country.

Product details

Author:	Bill Holder
Details:	64 pages, 11 x 8.5 x 0.24 in (28 x 21.5 x 0.6 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	180 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing Ltd (USA, 2002)
ISBN:	9780764314681

Convair Deltas: From Seadart to Hustler

Tells the compelling story of America's aerospace industry in its heyday, when manufacturers boldly took the initiative to explore futuristic new designs by actually building and test flying airplanes to determine how well they would work, if at all.

Convair led the way in this area with America's only complete family of delta-wing aircraft that included America's first delta-wing jet, the one-of-a-kind XF-92 experimental prototype, the XF2Y-1 jet-powered seaplane, the XFY-1 Pogo turboprop vertical takeoff and landing fighter, the F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart supersonic missile-firing interceptors, and the revolutionary record-breaking four-engine B-58 Hustler - the world's first Mach 2 strategic bomber.

Noted aviation author Bill Yenne thoroughly documents Convair's quest to conquer the aerodynamic mysteries of the delta wing with stories of the dramatic struggles and technological breakthroughs that gave the world some of its greatest fighter and bomber aircraft.

Product details

Author:	Bill Yenne
Details:	216 pages, 9.1 x 9.25 x 0.55 in (23 x 23.5 x 1.4 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	many b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Specialty Press (USA, 2015)
ISBN:	9781580072311

Convair F-102 Delta Dagger

With vivid detail and many exclusive photographs, Wayne Mutza chronicles the Convair's F-102 Delta Dagger's unsteady course through history, from its inception to present-day survivors.
Presented for the first time are the fascinating details surrounding the F-102 in the air defense role, special projects, its unconventional use during the war in Southeast Asia, service with foreign air arms, the Air National Guard and its extensive involvement with the drone program.

Special features include a detailed listing of each aircraft's assignment history and many of the insignia associated with the F-102. Through in-depth research, the author has produced a most informative and interesting volume on a classic aircraft.

Product details

Author:	Wayne Mutza
Details:	192 pages, 11 x 8.5 x 0.55 in (28 x 21.5 x 1.4 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	over 530 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing Ltd (USA, 2004)
ISBN:	9780764310621

F-102 Delta Dagger Units (Osprey)

World War II saw the development of the heavy bomber as a decisive weapon which, in sufficient numbers, could overcome defensive fighters and guns and lay waste to strategic targets. The addition of nuclear weapons to the bomber's armament made it even more formidable, and by the late 1940s, US planners saw the growth of a Soviet nuclear-armed bomber fleet as a terrifying threat to North American security.
Conventional subsonic fighters with guns and free-flight air-to-air rockets would be incapable of reaching these incoming bombers in time to prevent even one from delivering a devastating nuclear attack.

As a result, supersonic speed, long-range guided missiles and precise radar-based control of an interception became prerequisites for a new breed of fighters, beginning with the F-102. A massive research and development effort produced the Convair F-102A '1954 Fighter', the J57 afterburning turbojet, its Hughes MX-1554 fire control system and, in due course, the Semi-Active Ground Environment (SAGE) radar and communications network that covered North America to guide its airborne defences.

In service, F-102As also provided air defence in Europe with USAFE, in the Far East and in Southeast Asia, where they protected US airbases in South Vietnam and Thailand from air attack by North Vietnamese fighters and bombers and escorted B-52s and fighter-bombers on their attack sorties.
This illustrated study from leading expert Peter E. Davis details the design, development, and deployment of the futuristic F-102, including its complex research program and role in Vietnam.

Product details

Author:	Peter E. Davies
Details:	96 pages, 9.7 x 7.3 x 0.31 in (24.5 x 18.5 x 0.8 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Osprey Publishing (GB, 2020)
Series:	Combat Aircraft
ISBN:	9781472840677