Important B-58 landing approach aid

 silo (structure for storing bulk materials)  Add category

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Somewhere in this clutch of agricultural buildings is a tall silo. B-58 pilots used its relative location off the right side of their windscreen as an informal gauge of the accuracy of their landing approach path. The delta-winged B-58, with no flaps, had the characteristically high angle-of-attack such wings necessitated, and in the final stages of the approach, the pilots’ visibility over the nose was quite marginal. Many of them shorter than about 5’10” could not actually see the runway at this point, and used their experience with the location of this silo to determine what final corrections they needed to make. At the B-58's landing speed of just under 200 knots, touchdown was just a few seconds away.