Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Republic B-59C Raven - United States Air Force, 1960

 

From combat experience gained during the opening months of the Korean War the USAF issued a requirement for a night intruder/bomber to replace the A-26 Invader with the English Electric Canberra being declared the winner despite the presence of the futuristic-looking Martin XB-51. Fortunately for the Martin company they were selected to licence-build the British aircraft as the B-57 Canberra but, such was the pace of military aviation in the 1950's, even before the ink had dried on the B-57 contract the USAF were already drafting a requirement for a larger supersonic replacement. Martin proposed both a scaled-up B-51 and also an enlarged swept wing version of the B-57 but ultimately lost out to Republic's proposal for a sharply swept-wing aircraft with low drag promising excellent transonic performance and a supersonic dash capability with a much larger payload than any other competing design.

 

The Republic Raven was duly selected for production as the B-59 in December 1953 but soon hit powerplant problems when the planned Westinghouse J50 turbojet was cancelled as a fallout from the J40 fiasco. Pratt & Whitney were drafted in to produce the twin-spool, axial flow J59 derived from their outstanding J57 but the delay cost the program dearly and delayed the prototype YB-59 taking to the air by almost two years. By the time that production B-59A's started to roll off the Farmingdale production line in 1957 the USAF's total order had been cut to just one-third of the planned 600 Ravens and the type was retired from service in 1964 playing no part in the Vietnam War.

 

USAFB-59CRAVEN01_zps54b51dca.jpg

 

USAFB-59CRAVEN02_zps54439108.jpg

 

USAFB-59CRAVEN03_zpsf3a3bc69.jpg

 

USAFB-59CRAVEN04_zps50c6c0ae.jpg

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello,

 

Shuuuutttt... Top Sicret!!! Spyplane... from the Area 51!!!

 

Coupi.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

that will be the next thing that my friend extracts the magician .......

 

 

 

The plane is b-59c but the history talks only b-59a.....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue..