The U.S. Air Force's first operational supersonic bomber, the B-58, made its initial flight on Nov 11, 1956. Distinctive features included the Hustler's delta wing shape, a sophisticated inertial guidance navigation and bombing system, a slender “wasp-waist” fuselage, and extensive use of heat-resistant honeycomb skin panels in the wings and fuselage. Because the thin fuselage prevented carrying bombs internally, a droppable, two-component pod beneath the fuselage contained a nuclear weapon along with extra fuel, reconnaissance equipment, or other specialized gear. The B-58 crew consisted of a pilot, navigator / bombardier, and defense systems operator. Convair built 116 B-58s, including 30 test and pre-production aircraft and 86 for operational service. Hustlers flew in the Strategic Air Command between 1960 and 1970, set 19 world speed and altitude records, and won five different aviation trophies. The B-58A “Rocket Sled” was an actual nose section from a production aircraft at the Convair plant in Ft. Worth, Texas, removed and modified specifically to investigate various ejection seat designs for use at supersonic speeds. More than 40 ejections were made from rocket sleds at speeds from 115 mph to 806 mph at Edwards Air Force Base or the Hurricane Mesa test facility in Utah. One high-speed ejection used a live chimpanzee and another used a live bear. Nicknamed “Texas Hustler,” this sled bore numerous sortie markings, each an ejection seat silhouette showing how many times it fired off a seat. It was sold as surplus sometime in the 1960s and sat in the parking lot of an Alamogordo, NM, scrap dealer for decades before coming to the 8AF Museum in the 1980s. It is painted to represent its use at the various test facilities during its ejection seat testing career.