A Simple Fix
The B-58 Hustler was a supersonic wonder of its day, flying at nearly twice the speed of sound. But when this high-tech bomber malfunctioned, it sometimes needed a low-tech solution.

I was lucky enough to fly as a navigator/bombardier in the B-58 Hustler, one of the most advanced strategic air command bombers of the 1960s. In its day, the Hustler was billed as the fastest bomber in the free world. This high-tech marvel cruised faster than modern jet transports and made bomb runs at a little less than twice the speed of sound, so things happened fast on our missions.
 
In the B-58, advanced as it was, we still used the stars, moon, and sun for navigation, and this required careful flight planning and use of critical instruments in the cockpit. Item 18 on my checklist called for “GHA indicator — set.” The Greenwich Hour Angle (GHA) knob located on the control panel was used to determine our direction of flight — no small matter at our speeds. This set-in value was shown on the GHA indicator near the knob. The indicator then changed appropriately as the mission progressed.

In one of my earliest missions in the B-58, I set in a selected value, but the GHA was not working as it should. I scrambled to get my primary accurate heading reference operational. The few alternatives the operator’s and malfunction manuals recommended didn’t work.

We labored through the mission with a less-accurate backup heading. Back on the ground at Bunker Hill Air Base (now Grissom AFB), Ind., it was time for our maintenance debriefing. My first write-up for the stern, seasoned technician was a no-brainer — “GHA drive inoperative.”

“Did you try a rubber band?”

“I tried all of the methods recommended in the manual.”

“Yes, but did you try a rubber band?”

The armful of stripes on the frustrated technician were appearing more prominent. But my dropped jaw must have told him I was still not processing what he said.

In a concession to my bewilderment, the debriefer explained that placing a rubber band around one knob on the control panel, and then anchoring it to the GHA knob, would put side pressure on the shaft and the unit would start working again. When I protested that there was nothing in the manual about a rubber band, he shook me down one last time. “Everyone knows about the rubber band!” Everyone, that is, except this new B-58 crewmember.

Although I still had doubts, I made sure to have a couple of rubber bands wrapped around the end of my flashlight. Sure enough, a few missions later, the GHA drive stopped driving. After trying everything in the manual, I hesitantly reached for a rubber band. You guessed it: The debriefer was right.

— Frank Vander Wert is a retired Air Force pilot who lives in Germany.