During the late-1940s and early-1950s, American planners began worrying that ever increasing Soviet air defenses would soon make high-altitude penetration by piston-engine Convair B-36 and Boeing B-50 long-range strategic bombers impossible. Consequently, the Air Force began looking for alternate nuclear deterrents. Foremost in the planning were faster bombers — the jet-powered Boeing B-52, supersonic Convair B-58, and triple-sonic North American B-70 were all expected to provide much improved capabilities over their piston-engine predecessors. The possibility of exotic weapons such as atomic-powered bombers (WS-125A) and even suborbital hypersonic vehicles (BoMi and RoBo) were also considered, although none came to fruition.
展开▼
