ARMED FORCES: Bone Crusher

The supersonic delta-wing B58 Hustler, loping along at 650 m.p.h. 32,000 ft. over Texas, began a sharp turn to the southeast. Suddenly the four-jet bomber strained, trembled. "The first thing I noticed," said Captain Daniel Holland, the defensive-systems operator, "was that we were pulling Gs. which indicated to me that we were achieving an unusual attitude . . . I called Smitty [Major Richard Smith, 40, the pilot] and said: 'What's the matter? What's going on?' The answer wasn't immediate, so I figured he was fighting the controls. Next thing I knew,...

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