Today’s fact is a bizarre one. It sits in the intersection of my interests in aerospace and biology.
The Convair B-58 Hustler, developed during the 1950s, was the first bomber capable of Mach 2 speeds. Its history is a rich one for aviation fans, from the development and testing of VWS alarms to multiple established world records. The VWS, Voice Warning System, was created after an accident where test pilot Ray Tenhoff ran a F-89 into the ground while he was too preocupied with his screens and displays - thankfully, he lived. The VWS used a female voice to vocally alert the pilot of a series of faults in the airplane, and even issue commands as to what is necessary to correct and rectify the faullt. The system, or some permutation of it, is still used today and responsible for the safety of many lives. But, today’s short snippet of useless knowledge is not about that. The B-58, as the first Mach 2 bomber, required the creation of new technologies to sustain life during an ejection at high speeds. While the image of a high-speed sled comes to mind - as in Indiana Jones - the B-58 was peculiar as the team at Convair developing it used real, live, bears to test the ejection system! The bears first made their debuts during the rocket sled tests, on the ground. They were drugged and strapped to the sleds as their body weight and size more or less resembled that of a human. As the tests progressed, and the engineers took to testing their ejection seats in the skies, so too did the bears follow. Unfortunately, it seems that while all bears survived the ejection tests, and were offered some sort of feast upon their return, they were euthanized and subjected to autopsies to check for the effects of ejections at high speeds.