I have always been a fan of the B-57. It is such an interesting looking aircraft, with that strangely designed wing, long cylindrical engines, and offset crew compartment.
But the fact is, this is one long lived bomber!!! Due in no small part, to its incredibly reliable, strong built, burly frame and engines.
NASA has been using their modified B-57s for spacecraft-launch observation and other scientific work even right NOW.
Brittain has been using B-57s since its first flight in 1949! Supposedly, they have even seen flight over Afghanistan!
I just suddenly realised what an incredibly significant aircraft the B-57 is! The design has been flying for 56 years, and is still going strong, all things considered!
I live near Johnson Space Center in Houston and one day I saw a B-57 flying overhead… took me awhile to identify it as that’s not something you see a lot of… definitely a differerent looking plane!
I was not aware that the B-57 variant of the Canberra had an offset cockpit. I thought that was strictly the British built version and that the American built ones had a tandem cockpit on the centreline at the demand of USAF who didin’t at all care for the crew compartment layout of the original British design.
The Canberras over Afghanistan are the RAF’s PR.9 reccon version.
Another interesting bit of canberra trivia is that it is the only currently active military aircraft that still incorporates wood in its sturcture. I believe the bulk of its vertical tail is plywood construction.
I was in charge of a Squadron of B57s at Johmson AB in Japan in the early sixtys and we had achieved the best flying record without an aircraft being grounded for parts.for 348 days I believe its still the record . A fantastic built aircraft
Got a guy in Cape Town that owns 2 I think . Used to have 3 but one pranged if memory serves. Also has 3 or 4 English Electric Lightnings to go with 2 or 3 Hawker Hunters and a Srikemaster. I hear tell he has the largest privately owned collection of jet fighters in the world, that are still flying. Nobody can figure out how he can afford it tho’. Just think of that insurance bill alone!
I got this shot in Elmira, NY, last year. It’s on the flight line instead of in the museum, so you have to be escorted out there. This is the National Warplane museum.
Note: The B-57 A model does indeed have the same crew configuration as the British build Canberras. The B-57-Bs have tandem seats with the bubble canopy on the aircrafts centerline. B-57As were operated by the USAF, but not in the significant numbers that the Bs were. Look closely at the photo provided above. It is a B-57-A with the teardrop canopy and the same style crew compartments as the Canberra.
I’m not sure if the U.S. B-57-A models were built under license by Martin, or were purchased from the British. If they were purchased then they are in fact “Canberras”.The B models were built by Martin.
I saw a couple of late mark Canbarras of the RAAF in Nam. They had the bubble canopy , but it was off the centerline of the aircraft. It looked a little strange compared to the USAF B-57.
Here’s a pic I took a few weeks ago of an engine start at RAF Bruntingthorpe over here in the Uk… fabulous to watch, and damn loud too as the cartridges went off. The first one scared the crap out of me & I missed it, but I caught the second one banged to rights [:D]
When they start the engines the starter cartriges produce a lot of smoke. The first time I saw one started I thought it was on fire. Now if only someone would produce an injection molded kit in 1/48th scale. I have the vacuformed kit and found a cast resin cockpit for it. If I ever find the cast metal landing gear set I’ll finish the kit. The all black paint with red markings is my favorite, but the SEA camo scheme is also neat on the B-57. Thanks for sharing the Canberra pics. She’s a good old bird!
There was a Squadron of RB-57’s at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam. The were all black with red numbering and letters, and flew only night missions. The sound of the engines when they taxied by would make your teeth hurt. Those engines and the ones from the B-66 had to be the worst sounding engines ever heard, or felt.
Man, if you thought the Canberra was loud, you should hear rge racket a BAE Lightning makes on take-off! 30 minutes before I took those photos, there were lightnings doing fast taxi runs, and they were SO loud with both burners going on full reheat, they set off virtually all the car alarms on the airfield.
We were about 50 yards away at the side of the runway, and the compression as it goes past was painful! [B)] Wouldn’t have missed it for all the styrene in China though![:D]
I’m really glad my post has sparked this much interest!
I’ve always thought that this bird was really special, and from your posts, you agree with me also!
It’s absolutely fantastic that the RAF still actually uses them, too! Albeit, in photo recon missions rather than bomber missions.
In fact… now that I think of it… NASA uses them for imaging space vehicles as they lift off, to give them high-detail video to analyze for potential problems, which I guess you could call Photo Reconnaisance. And the RAF uses theirs for photo recon…
Is there some inherent trait of the Canberra that makes it a good photo/video platform?
Also, are there any kits of the canberras serving with the RAF’s recon division?
I guess it’s just a big, reliable, stable platform for the job. The shuttle photo analysis Canberras do have special vibration damping cameras that have some fancy software to improve image quality further, so maybe they were just a cost effective existing platform that required minimal work to convert.
I imagine the durability of the airframes has kept them in the game, as if you don’t need to replace a photo-recon bird, why bother?
I could be wrong, but if I recall correctly, the ending of that cult classic sci fi film The Crawling Eye has Canberras napalming the hell out of 'em. ( BTW, if you ever get a chance, check that film out- very creepy for those days…)
Ahhh, the Canberra, a proper, solid aeroplane that outperformed the USAF recon birds so easliy in the 60’s, & thats why they were licence built by Martin. US industry simply couldn’t match the design (probably cheaper than starting from scratch anyway).
Mike, thats E E (English Electric, same as the Canberra (not BAE) Lightning) ( And I work for BAE!)
The ‘guy in Cape Town’ has the wonderful name, Mike Beachy Head ( Beachyhead is a famous UK beauty spot) & No, I can’t figure how he can afford it either, though you can save up for a trip in a Bucc or Lightning, fancy mach 2 anyone?
Canberra kits are few & far between;
The old Frog kit, though basic, is still available from various East European makers.
The Airfix kit is now rare & expensive.
Italeri did a B-57, probably to their usual fair standard, if you can find one.
Those are all 1/72 of course, Aeroclub in the UK do a vacform B2 for around 45 UK pounds, very impressive once built. probably available via Hannants.
All the best
Pete
