One of eleven YB-58As built.
Being reassembled at Castle Air Museum in Atwater, CA, April 2024
Four 15600 lbs GE J79-GE-5/-5A
Information from Joe Baugher's website
666 (MSN 7) Mar 20, 1958: First flight 1958: Used as a test aircraft by Convair, with a YJ79-GE-5 jet engine on a special centerline pod. Nov 8, 1958: Flew 32 minutes at sustained Mach 2 with YJ79-GE-5 engines. Apr 28, 1959: Taken on strength with the USAF, but retained by Convair for use as a test and evaluation aircraft May 1, 1959: Converted to YRB-58A. Aug 16, 1962: Made the longest B-58 early test program flight of 11 hours 15 minutes. Nov 1962: Transferred to the 6510th Operational Maintenance Squadron (Air Force Systems Command) at Edwards AFB, CA. May 1964: Transferred to the 3345th Maintenance and Support Group (Air Training Command) at Chanute AFB, IL. May 1965: Redesignated GRB-58A for use as an instructional airframe. 1967: Transferred to museum status and displayed at the Chanute AFB base air park Put on display at Chanute AFB, Illinois as 61-2059 which is at the SAC Museum. Later painted as itself. In 1993 Chanute AFB closed and plane was tranferred to the Chanute Air Museum. When noted at Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum September 2003 it was still painted (or has again been repainted) as 12059. Was damaged by museum staff while they were attempting to move the plane while the wheels on the main gear were locked up and the nose gear was irreparably fractured. The museum closed Oct 31, 2015, plane was suppposed to be moved to Castle AFB Museum, CA, but the stripped plane was still in a hanger at Chanute in 2017. In 2020 was located at Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California and is in the process of being re-assembled/restored.
