NB-58 With J-93 Pod

[MIflyer]

Just stumbled across this photo of an NB-58 with a test pod for the J-93 engine used on the XB-70. Warp Factor 9, please!

 

[Snautzer01]

such a pretty plane

 

[Wurger]

 

[Capt. Vick]

I was amazed at how tiny the tires were on this think when I saw it at the USAF museum

 

[Gnomey]

Very cool!

 

[Zipper730]

I was amazed at how tiny the tires were on this think when I saw it at the USAF museum

Well, that's because the airplane had to have high ground-clearance because of the pod. Since the pod also made it impossible for the long wheels to fold inward without a complex telescoping landing-gear strut: They ultimately decided to fold it backwards.

Since low-drag was based on the wings being streamlined and thin, the fairing the gears fit into would have to be small, and since bombers normally have four large wheels on a strut, that wouldn't work. So they used a whole bunch of little wheels that made a suitably flat arrangement that distributed the plane's weight. This folded backwards into a fairing which was blended into the rest of the wing.

Amazingly, the landing-gear, despite it's complexity, seemed to have little major problems. The XB-70 ran into loads of problems.

 

[tlott01]

The nose gear fold was pretty crazy too, so it would clear the front of the fuel/weapon pod.