The
B-58 Hustler was the pride of the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War. The first
bomber capable of hitting Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound), it was designed to
drop nuclear weapons into the Soviet Union in the era before intercontinental
missiles took over that task.
But
the bomber's ejection capsule had some design flaws — an entire flight crew was
killed in one test flight, according to io9.com,
so engineers developed a stronger ejection capsule. After testing the capsule
on the ground using people recruited from unemployment lines, the Air Force
began testing the
ejection capsule in the air — using live bears,
according to news reports.
Approximating
the size of an adult human male, American black
bears and Himalayan bears were chosen to be strapped into the ejection
capsules after being drugged with sedatives. The capsules were ejected at
varying speeds and altitudes, and after parachuting down to Earth, the capsules
were opened and the bears were examined, io9.com reports.
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