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Based upon the bizarre shooting incident and subsequent comeback of Philadelphia Phillies player Eddie Waitkus, the story of Roy Hobbs takes some poetic license and embellishes what was truly a strange, but memorable, account of a career lost too soon. Apart from the fact that both Waitkus and fictional Hobbs were shot by women, there are few if any other similarities. It has been alternately suggested by historian Thomas Wolf that the shooting incident might have been inspired by Chicago Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges, who was shot by a showgirl with whom he was romantically linked, but there has been no evidence to support this claim.
A film adaptation, The Natural, starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, was released in 1984.
Plot
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Nineteen-year-old Roy Hobbs is traveling by train to Chicago with his manager Sam to try out for the Chicago Cubs. Other passengers include sportswriter Max Mercy, Walter "The Whammer" Whambold, the leading hitter in the American League and three-time American League Most Valuable Player (based on Babe Ruth), and Harriet Bird, a beautiful but mysterious woman. The train makes a quick stop at a carnival along the rail where The Whammer challenges Hobbs to strike him out. Hobbs does just that, much to everyone's surprise and The Whammer's humiliation. Back on the train Harriet Bird strikes up a conversation with Hobbs, who never suspects that Bird has any ulterior motive. In fact, she is a lunatic obsessed with shooting the best baseball player. Her intended target was Whammer, but after Hobbs struck him out, her attention shifts to Hobbs.
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In Chicago, Hobbs checks into his hotel and promptly receives a call from Bird, who is also staying there. When he goes down to her room, she shoots him in the stomach.
The novel picks up 16 years later in the dugout of the New York Knights, a fictional National League baseball team. The team has been on an extended losing streak, and manager Pop Fisher's and assistant manager Red Blow's careers appear to be winding to an ignominious end. During one losing game, Roy Hobbs emerges from the clubhouse tunnel and announces that he is the team's new right fielder, having just been signed by Knights co-owner Judge Banner. Both Pop and Red take Hobbs under their wing, and Red later tells Hobbs about Fisher's plight as manager of the Knights. The Judge wants to take over Pop's share in the team but cannot do that until the current season ends and provided the Knights fail to win the National League pennant.
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Being the newest player, Roy has a number of practical jokes played upon him, including the theft of his "Wonderboy" bat. Once Roy gets his first chance at bat, however, he proves to be a true "natural" at the game. During one game, Pop substitutes Hobbs as a pinch hitter for team star Bump Baily, intending to teach Bailey a lesson for not hustling. Pop tells Roy to "knock the cover off of the ball". Roy literally does that — hitting a triple to right field. A few days later, a newly hustling Bump attempts to play a hard hit fly ball. He runs into the outfield wall, later dying from the impact. Roy permanently takes over Bump's position.
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Max Mercy reappears, searching for details of Hobbs' past. Hobbs remains quiet even after Mercy offers five thousand dollars, telling him, "All the public is entitled to is my best game of baseball." At the same time, Hobbs has been attempting to negotiate a higher salary with the judge, arguing that his success should be rewarded. Mercy introduces Hobbs to bookie Gus Sands, who is keeping company with Memo Paris, Pop's niece. Hobbs has been infatuated with Memo since he came to the Knights. Hobbs' magic tricks appear to impress her.
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Max Mercy writes a column about the judge's refusal to grant Hobbs a raise, and a fan uprising ensues. Hobbs, however, is more occupied with Memo. Pop warns Hobbs about Memo, saying she imparts bad luck on the people she associates with. Hobbs dismisses the warning and promptly falls into a hitting slump. Numerous attempts to reverse it fail. He finally hits a home run during a game where a mysterious woman rises from her seat. Before Hobbs can see who she is, she has left. Roy eventually meets the woman. Her name is Iris Lemon, and he proceeds to court her. Upon learning she is a mother, however, he loses interest and returns his attention to Memo Paris.
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Memo rebuffs Roy's advances; Hobbs continues to play brilliantly and leads the Knights to a 17-game winning streak. With the Knights one game away from winning the National League pennant, Roy attends a party hosted by Memo. He collapses there and awakens in the hospital. The doctor says he can play in the final game of the season, but must retire after that if he wants to live. Hobbs wants to start a family with Memo and realizes he will need money.
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The judge offers Hobbs a bribe to lose the Knight's final game. Hobbs makes a counter-offer of $35,000, which is accepted. That night, unable to sleep, he reads a letter from Iris. After seeing the word "mother" in the letter, he discards it. He plays the next day and while at-bat, fouls a pitch into the stands that strikes Iris, injuring her and splits the Wonderboy bat in two lengthwise. Iris tells Roy that she is pregnant with his child, and now he is determined to do his best for their future. At the end of the game, with a chance to win it, Hobbs, now trying to win, comes to bat against Herman Youngberry, a brilliant young pitcher similar to Hobbs at the same age. Youngberry strikes out Hobbs, ending the game and the season for the Knights. As he sits bemoaning the end of the season and possibly his career, Mercy rediscovers the shooting and also finds out that Hobbs was paid to throw the game. If this report from Mercy is true, Roy Hobbs will be expelled from the game and all of
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his records removed.
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Major characters
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Roy Hobbs – "The Natural" – A former teenage pitching phenomenon whose career dreams were derailed after a mysterious woman shot and seriously wounded him as he travelled to Chicago to try out for a Major League baseball team. The story revolves around Hobbs's quest to make a comeback years after the tragedy and, hopefully, finally to take his rightful place on the field and be remembered as one of the greatest ballplayers of all time.
Memo Paris – Roy's main love interest throughout the story, Memo is Pop Fisher's niece and is often in the company of Sands. She is generally unhappy and leads Roy on for most of the novel.
Pop Fisher – The grizzled manager of the New York Knights, Pop was once a fine player who is remembered for making a crucial error in his playing career and for never winning the big game. His name and situation are suggestive of the Fisher King of legend.
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Max Mercy – A seedy journalist who is more concerned with unearthing facts about the players' personal lives than covering the sport itself. Mercy meets Hobbs in the beginning of the novel and later spends most of his time trying to uncover his dark secrets.
Sands – A morally bankrupt bookie who enjoys placing bets against Hobbs until he persuades him to take a dive in the final game. He is also always around Memo, despite Roy's protests.
Iris Lemon – A fan of Roy's who helps him break his slump in the middle of the season. Iris makes a deep connection with Roy, although he favors Memo over her until the end of the novel.
Harriet Bird – The mysterious woman the teen-aged Roy meets on the train when he is en route to Chicago at the beginning of the novel. She later shoots him in her hotel room before committing suicide. Her character is loosely based on Ruth Ann Steinhagen, a disturbed 19-year-old baseball fan who, obsessed with Eddie Waitkus, shot and nearly killed him in 1949.
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References
External links
1952 American novels
American novels adapted into films
Baseball novels
Harcourt (publisher) books
Novels by Bernard Malamud
1952 debut novels
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is a role-playing video game (RPG) developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance on January 25, 2002 in Japan.
Gameplay
Players control DeMille through the Ketchup Kingdom while talking to people, entering places and collecting items. The object of the game is to save DeMille's girlfriend, Patharan, and the Ketchup Kingdom from King Abira by going through every village to obtain the missing parts of a robot that can give anyone access into the Gimmick Palace, a tower-like structure with a tomato on it. Instead of wandering endlessly inside places or entering battles randomly, Tomato Adventure displays enemies moving around on the screen while entering battles by bumping DeMille into them.
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Plot
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The story takes place in a land ruled by young characters, the Ketchup Kingdom, which is also filled with devices like Jack-in-the-Boxes. The protagonist is a hare-like boy in blue clothing named DeMille, who lives in a school bus with no wheels in a village on the outskirts of the Ketchup Kingdom called Cobore Village. DeMille is an outcast because he dislikes tomatoes. As a result, he and other kids in Kobora who dislike tomatoes are looked down upon as "Droppers", banished for heresy, and locked up in Cobore Village until they change their attitudes towards tomatoes. While watching television, DeMille sees that the main antagonist, King Abīra, is celebrating a holiday called Tomato Day, while showing his project he created called the Super Cara-Cooker, a laser-like gun that transforms people, places, and things into dolls, toys, and playgrounds. After DeMille's television set gets severely damaged, he visits his neighbor and friend Seremo and asks him if he could fix his
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television set. Seremo says he will and gives DeMille his first Gimmick, called the Gear Yo-Yo.
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After Seremo teaches DeMille how to use it, DeMille's girlfriend Patharan comes to tell him that she wanted him and her to venture into the dangerous Toy Ruins to look for her Fantastic Toy, the Gimmick Robo, but by the time they arrive, it is absent. Then, two purple creatures with zippers on them, Brikky and Grikky, capture Patharan with a hook. DeMille grabs on to her while being pulled up to the airship, the Carorna No.2, piloted by Brikky and Grikky. As soon as DeMille and Patharan come aboard the airship, Brikky and Grikky receive a call from King Abīra to bring Patharan to the palace and drop DeMille out of the airship. After DeMille fights Brikky and Grikky, they drop DeMille from the airship into the Tomato Pond, only for him to notice that he is standing near King Abīra's home, the Gimmick Palace, a tall, red, tower with a tomato-shaped top. When he decides to enter and save Patharan, he encounters a wall that he cannot pass through. Then, a mole named Rereku tells him that
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in order to pass through the wall, DeMille has to defeat the six Super Kids and obtain the six key items called Toy Parts. While DeMille goes on his adventure, he befriends some people for them to join forces with him to defeat King Abira and save Patharan and the entire Ketchup Kingdom. His partners in order of joining him are Arisa, Sofubi, and Rereku.
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Development and release
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After AlphaDream developed and released their first video game title, Koto Battle: Tengai no Moribito, Nintendo wanted AlphaDream's permission to develop an entirely new role-playing video game with them, titled . They got the name from an idea of a game structure that utilizes gimmicky, toy-like controls that make it an RPG with action elements. It was finished and almost ready to be released for the Game Boy Color in Japan, until Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance to make the Game Boy Color obsolete. After noticing that, Nintendo requested AlphaDream to redevelop and rename Gimmick Land as "Tomato Adventure" for the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo also requested AlphaDream to add some easily recognizable characters in which reflects the new title, so that the game would have a more marketable image. Those were Nintendo's largest requests. Other changes are the quality of the graphics and audio being enhanced. Only two screenshots of Gimmick Land were released to the public by the
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developers. A mainly complete prototype of Gimmick Land had surfaced online from the 2020 Nintendo data leak. On the release date of Tomato Adventure, Nintendo and AlphaDream announced a contest where twenty winners won themselves 1 kg of sweet tomatoes from the Kochi Virtue Valley area. The contest ended on February 28, 2002.
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Tomato Adventure was not officially released in English due to the targeted age group being considered too low; problems with the battle system and the game not being received well at the time of release were other contributing factors. An unofficial English fan translation was eventually released in July 2021.
Reception
On release, Weekly Famitsu scored the game a 29 out of 40.
1UP.com scored the game "A"..
Notes
References
2002 video games
AlphaDream games
Cancelled Game Boy Color games
Game Boy Advance games
Japan-exclusive video games
Nintendo games
Video games about food and drink
Video games developed in Japan
Virtual Console games
Virtual Console games for Wii U
Fruit and vegetable characters
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Aldington was the stronghold of The Aldington Gang, a band of smugglers roaming the Romney Marshes and shores of Kent. The gang's leaders, made the local inn, The Walnut Tree Inn, their headquarters and drop for their contraband. The Inn was often used when they waited for others of their group to bring in goods from across the Marshes. High up on the southern side of the inn is a small window through which the gang would shine a signal light to their partners up on Aldington Knoll when the way was clear for them.
They were probably the last 'major' gang that existed in Kent and it is believed that they were known as The Blues from the colour of the clothing that they wore or from blue flares used for signalling.
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The Gang's activities
The gang was probably founded in or around 1817, as gang-based smuggling returned, but the first mention of the Aldington Gang was in November 1820, after the men had returned home from the Napoleonic Wars and found little to do to make any money. It is believed that they were active well before this date and were responsible for incidents in Deal, St. Margaret's Bay, north of Dover. The gang carried out a landing near Sandgate with 250 men taking part, unloading a galley laden with spirits, tobacco and salt that had been rowed across the Channel from Boulogne and pulled up onto the shingle beach. Three groups of smugglers had gathered: one to unload and transport the cargo and two groups of "Batmen", to protect the first. They were spotted by a few local blockade men, as the main blockade force had been lured away by the smugglers.
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"Batmen" stood guard when a run was taking place to fight off anyone who tried to interfere; they gained their name from the long clubs, or ‘bats’ they carried. Some smugglers used guns, although the shooting of the Revenue officer often roused the authorities to step up their efforts against smuggling.
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In February 1821 the Battle of Brookland took place between the Customs and Excise men and the Aldington Gang. The smugglers had sent 250 men down to the coast between Camber and Dungeness but the party was seen by the Watch House at Camber and a fight took place over Walland Marsh. Although the Gang successfully completed the unloading of the goods, they were harried right across the Marshes until they reached Brookland, where the Gang turned on the blockade force. Five men were killed in the fighting and there were more than twenty wounded.
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Their leader at that time was Cephas Quested who, in the confusion of the Battle, turned to a man close by him, handed him a musket and instructed him to "blow an Officer's brains out." Unfortunately for Quested, in the confusion of the fight and being somewhat intoxicated, the man that he had turned to was a Midshipman of the blockade force, who immediately turned the gun on Quested and arrested him. After being sentenced, Quested was taken to Newgate and hanged for his activities on 4 July 1821.
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In 1792 George Ransley was born at Ruckinge, and started work as a ploughman then a carter. The story goes that he found a stash of spirits hidden by the smugglers and with the proceeds of the sale bought his house The Bourne Tap, from where he frequently sold spirits that he had landed. Another location frequented by the Gang at this time was an Augustine Priory, at Bilsington which was used as a farm house and they would use as a store house.
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Ransley took over the gang of smugglers after the Battle of Brookland, and employed a doctor, with an allowance paid to a man's family if he was ill, a policy that avoided the capture of injured men by the revenue forces and helped to ensure loyalty. The gang became stronger and landed goods along the coast from Rye to Deal . In July 1826 they were caught on the beach at Dover and a Midshipman, Richard Morgan, was killed. In October 1826 Ransley was arrested at Aldington by the Bow Street Runners on suspicion of murder, but as it took place in the dark, the death sentence was converted to deportation along with his brother-in-law Samuel Bailey as was fellow gang members Thomas Gillham and James Hogben.
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Ransley was sent to work on a farm in Tasmania where his knowledge of farming was a great benefit to him. Two years later his wife Elizabeth followed with their ten children - only nine survived the journey. He was assigned to his wife in 1833. He was finally granted a pardon in 1838 and farmed at River Plenty, Hobart. He died in 1856 and is buried in River Plenty, New Norfolk, along with his wife.
Downfall
The success of smuggling gangs is dependent upon the goodwill of the local people. The gang began to lose this special relationship as they extended their ruthless behaviour beyond that of the publicly acceptable crime of smuggling and turned on the rural communities. Some of the members of the Gang started resorting to breaking into local residences.
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The problems were compounded when Richard Morgan, a member of the blockade forces at Dover, was shot and killed. Morgan, who was a quartermaster with the blockade, was well liked in Dover and spotted the Gang trying to run a cargo ashore on Dover Beach. After firing a warning shot the Gang turned on him, resulting in his death and the wounding of a seaman who was with him. A reward was offered for information after this incident which was claimed by several people and as a consequence, in October, 1826 the blockade forces together with two Bow Street Runners raided The Bourne Tap and captured George Ransley and seven other members of the Gang. Eventually a total of nineteen men were captured and stood trial at Maidstone Assizes in January 1827. They were all found guilty of charges that carried the death penalty but their lawyer, a local gentleman from Maidstone, managed to get their sentences commuted to transportation.
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Stories
There is a story that as a result of a fight between the Gang members one night, one of the smugglers' number was murdered and the body disposed of down a well at the side of the Inn. It is said that on some nights the sounds of scuffling and a body being dragged outside can still be heard.
Although the Gang had a brutal reputation, they were not without a sense of humour. One officer who was blindfolded and had his legs bound was told he was to be thrown over a cliff. He managed to cling on to tufts of grass as he fell and hung with his legs dangling for some time. It was not until his blindfold slipped that he realised his feet were a matter of inches above the ground. The 'cliff' was only seven feet (2 m) high.
Ransley lived at a The Bourne Tap and stories were circulated about there being a ghost which manifested itself as a floating severed head in the old building which served well to keep the curious away.
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Ransley was known for his organisational abilities but stories differ about the man. Some said he was a giant of over six feet, others said he was hardly more than five feet tall, some said he was a likeable rogue, others lived in absolute fear of him. Whatever was the truth, there was no doubt that he could be as ruthless as the situation demanded.
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References
Gangs in England
History of Kent
History of Ashford, Kent
Former gangs
People from Kent
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The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight.
The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC). To achieve the high speeds desired, Convair adapted the delta wing used by contemporary fighters such as the Convair F-102. The bomber was powered by four General Electric J79 engines in underwing pods. It had no bomb bay: it carried a single nuclear weapon plus fuel in a combination bomb/fuel pod underneath the fuselage. Later, four external hardpoints were added, enabling it to carry up to five weapons.
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The B-58 entered service in March 1960, and flew for a decade with two SAC bomb wings: the 43rd Bombardment Wing and the 305th Bombardment Wing. It was considered difficult to fly, imposing a high workload upon its three-man crews. Designed to replace the subsonic Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber, the B-58 became notorious for its sonic boom heard on the ground by the public as it passed overhead in supersonic flight.
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The B-58 was designed to fly at high altitudes and supersonic speeds to avoid Soviet interceptors. But with the Soviet introduction of high-altitude surface-to-air missiles, the B-58 was forced to adopt a low-level-penetration role that severely limited its range and strategic value. It was never used to deliver conventional bombs. The B-58 was substantially more expensive to operate than other bombers, such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, and required more frequent aerial refueling. The B-58 also suffered from a high rate of accidental losses. These factors resulted in a relatively brief operational career of ten years. The B-58 was succeeded in its role by the smaller, swing-wing FB-111A.
Development
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Origins
The genesis of the B-58 was the Generalized Bomber Study (GEBO II) issued in February 1949 by the Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, for the development of a supersonic, long-range, manned bomber aircraft. ARDC sought the best attainable quantitative data, challenging the industry to devise their own solutions to attain the stated goal. Work on the proposed bomber's design was to begin less than two years after sustained supersonic flight had been achieved. According to aviation authors Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, while some military officials were keenly interested in the prospective use of supersonic bombers, others held doubts about the propulsion systems and materials science required for supersonic operations, as well as the much higher fuel consumption relative to subsonic counterparts.
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Despite the scepticism, multiple contractors submitted bids for GEBO II, which was viewed as an influential step towards a development contract. These included Boeing, Convair, Curtiss, Douglas, Martin and North American Aviation. The majority of submissions were relatively straightforward, unambitious, and expensive. Convair, which had built the XF-92A and other delta-wing fighters, evaluated swept and semi-delta configurations, then settled on the delta wing, which offered good internal volume for support systems and fuel. It also provided low wing loading for the airframe size, permitting supersonic flight in the mid-stratosphere at . Most of the configurations studied mated the delta wing to a relatively slender fuselage housing a crew of two and powered by a pair of jet engines.
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The Convair proposal, coded FZP-110, was a radical two-place delta wing bomber powered by three General Electric J53 turbojet engines. The performance estimates included a speed and a range. A key feature of the design was to store consumables, both weaponry and most of the fuel, within a large external pod, which enabled a smaller fuselage. In January 1951, Convair submitted the FZP-110 proposal, which was received later than other competing bids. During December 1951, a revised FZP-016 proposal was submitted, which deleted the third engine on the tail, increased the remaining two engines' thrust, and added a third crew member to operate defensive systems.
Selection
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The Air Force chose Boeing's MX-1712 and Convair MX-1626 design studies to proceed to a Phase 1 study. During this period Convair took advantage of recent developments by General Electric and replaced the two large J53 engines with four smaller J79s optimized for supersonic flight. The recently formulated area rule was also applied to the design, resulting in aerodynamic re-profiling and an even more slender fuselage. Having been refined, Convair redesignated their renewed submission MX-1964.
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In August 1952, Convair's design was judged superior. According to Gunston and Gilchrist, Boeing's submission was viewed as equally good, but their separate contract to produce the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress had undoubtedly influenced this competition. In December 1952, Convair was chosen to meet the new SAB-51 (Supersonic Aircraft Bomber) and SAR-51 (Supersonic Aircraft Reconnaissance) standards, the first General Operational Requirements (GOR) for supersonic bombers. In February 1953, the Air Force issued a contract for Convair's design, designated B-58 on 10 December 1952.
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The B-58 program, unlike those for preceding military aircraft, is now recognised as the first weapon system contract. Under this arrangement, Convair acted as the prime contractor responsible for all program elements, not just the aircraft. Convair was required to devise or subcontract everything associated with the aircraft's operation, from the engines to training manuals, spare components, and software, in excess of one million items. Early on, the contract was modified to build a pair of XB-58 prototypes, 11 YB-58A pre-production aircraft, and 31 mission pods including a free-fall bomb pod, a rocket-propelled controllable bomb pod, a reconnaissance pod, and an electronic reconnaissance pod.
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Into flight
The first prototype, serial number 55-660, was rolled out on 31 August 1956. The program was performed under high security: prior to the roll out, no unauthorized individual had knowledge of its shape or basic configuration. On 11 November 1956, the maiden flight occurred. The prototype exceeded Mach 1 for the first time on 30 December of that year. The difficult and protracted flight test program involving 30 aircraft continued until April 1959. A total of 116 B-58s were produced: 30 trial aircraft and 86 production B-58A models. Most of the trial aircraft were later upgraded to operational standards. Eight were equipped as TB-58A training aircraft.
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Convair sought further development of the B-58, proposing variants and derivatives for both military and civil applications. Most would never go beyond the drawing board, having been ordered prior to the decision to terminate multiple contracts. The B-58B, B-58C, B-58D, and B-58E variants were all terminated prior to completion of any production aircraft. During the late 1960s, some refinements to the existing fleet were developed and introduced, such as slender bomb racks (known as Multiple Weapons Capability) and additional pods. The final B-58 was delivered in October 1962.
Design
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Overview
The Convair B-58 Hustler was a high speed strategic bomber, capable of attaining routinely Mach 2 at altitude. It incorporated a large delta wing with a leading-edge sweep of 60° and was powered by an arrangement of four General Electric J79-GE-1 turbojet engines. Although its sizable wing generated relatively low wing loading, it proved to be surprisingly well suited for low-altitude, high-speed flight. To protect against the heat generated while cruising at Mach 2, the crew compartment, the wheel wells and electronics bay were pressurized and air conditioned. The B-58 was one of the first extensive applications of aluminum honeycomb panels, which bonded outer and inner aluminum skins to a honeycomb of aluminum or fiberglass.
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Various features of the B-58 were considered to be record-breaking, according to Gunston and Gilchrist. The structure itself made up 13.8 per cent of the aircraft's gross weight, an exceptionally low figure for the era, while the wing was considered to be extremely thin as well. Several key features of the engine, including the nacelle and the inlet, were unlike any existing aircraft, having been devised from guidance by aerodynamicists. Specifically, the inlets used moving conical spikes, being fully aft on the ground and at low speeds to maximise air intake, then driven forward while being flown at high speeds to minimise the annular gap. This movement was automatically controlled, but significant noise and asymmetric thrust would be generated in the event of a single inlet malfunctioning.
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Crew provisions
The B-58 was operated by a crew of three: pilot, bombardier/navigator, and defensive systems operator. They were seated in separated tandem cockpits. The pilot's cockpit, which was provided with very deep windows, was considered to be mostly conventional for a large multi-engine aircraft. The defensive systems operator was provisioned with a complex arrangement of different systems, which Gunston and Gilchrist describe as being the most complicated of any aircraft of the era. The space allocated to the crew, despite being roughly half of the fuselage's internal volume, was typically considered to be cramped and claustrophobic.
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Later versions of the B-58 provided each crew member with a novel ejection capsule that could eject at an altitude of at speeds up to Mach 2. Unlike standard ejection seats of the period, a protective clamshell would enclose the seat and the control stick with an attached oxygen cylinder, allowing the pilot to continue to fly even "turtled up" and ready for immediate egress. The capsule was buoyant; the crewmember could open the clamshell, and use it as a life raft. Unusually, the ejection system was tested with live bears and chimpanzees; it was qualified for use during 1963. The XB-70 would use a similar system with capsules of a different design.
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The electronic controls were ambitious and advanced for the day. The navigator and DSO's cockpits featured wraparound dashboards with warning lights and buttons, and automatic voice messages and warnings from a tape system were audible through the helmet sets. Research during the era of all-male combat aircraft assignments revealed that a woman's voice was more likely to gain the attention of young men in distracting situations. Nortronics Division of Northrop Corporation selected actress and singer Joan Elms to record the automated voice warnings. To those flying the B-58, the voice was known as "Sexy Sally". The original voice recordings are archived.
Adverse flight characteristics
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While the B-58's performance and design were exceptional for the era, it was not an easy aircraft to fly. This was caused by the 60° leading edge sweepback of its wing and was inherent in these types of delta wing platforms. It required a much higher angle of attack than a conventional aircraft, up to 9.4° at Mach 0.5 at low altitudes. If the angle of attack was too high, in excess of 17°, the bomber could pitch up and enter a spin. Several factors could prevent a successful recovery: if the pilot applied elevon, if the center of gravity was not correctly positioned, or if the spin occurred below , recovery might not be possible. The B-58 also possessed unconventional stall characteristics; if the nose was elevated, the bomber maintained forward motion without pitching down. Unless large amounts of power were applied, the descent rate increased rapidly. Another problem pilots faced was called "fuel stacking", taking place whenever the B-58 accelerated or decelerated. It was caused by
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fuel movement within the tanks, which led to sudden changes in the aircraft's center of gravity. This could cause the B-58 to abruptly pitch or bank, potentially resulting in a loss of control.
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The aircraft had unusual takeoff requirements, with a 14° angle of attack needed for the rotation at about for a combat weight. This poor takeoff performance was evident with the high landing speed, necessitating a drogue parachute for braking, which was also required for B-47 and B-52 aircraft. To accommodate the high landing speed, the specially configured landing gear had to handle excessive conditions, both the inflation pressure and wheel rpm were far greater than prior units in order to cope.
Weapons systems
The Sperry AN/ASQ-42 bombing/navigation system combined a sophisticated inertial navigation system with the KS-39 star tracker (astro-inertial navigation system) to provide heading reference, the AN/APN-113 Doppler radar to provide ground speed and windspeed data, a search radar to provide range data for bomb release and trajectory, and a radar altimeter. The AN/ASQ-42 was estimated to be 10 times more accurate than any previous bombing/navigation system.
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Defensive armament consisted of a single 20 mm (0.79 in) T-171E-3 rotary cannon with 1,200 rounds of ammunition in a radar-aimed tail barbette. It was remotely controlled through the Emerson MD-7 automated radar fire-control system only requiring the DSO to lock-on a selected target blip on his scope and then fire the gun. The system computed aiming, velocity or heading differential, and range compensation. Offensive armament typically consisted of a single nuclear weapon, along with fuel tanks, in a streamlined MB-1C pod under the fuselage. Incurable difficulties with fuel leakage resulted in the replacement of the MB-1C with the TCP (Two Component Pod), which placed the nuclear weapon in an upper section while the lower fuel component could be independently jettisoned. This had the added benefit of allowing the pilot to "clean up" the aircraft for fuel efficiency or in case of emergency, while still retaining the (somewhat) slimmer weapon.
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From 1961 to 1963, the B-58 was retrofitted with two tandem stub pylons under each wing root, adjacent to the centreline pod, for B43 or B61 nuclear weapons for a total of five nuclear weapons per aircraft. Although the USAF looked at using the B-58 for conventional strikes, it was never equipped for carrying or dropping conventional bombs. A photo reconnaissance pod, the LA-331, was also fielded. Several other specialized pods for ECM or an early cruise missile were considered, but not adopted. The late-1950s High Virgo air-launched ballistic missile was designed to be launched from the B-58; a Hustler carried out four test launches to determine ballistic missile and anti-satellite weapon system capability.
Operational history
Introduction
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On 1 August 1960, the B-58 was declared operational, nine months after the delivery of the first aircraft to the Air Force. One month later, a single B-58 participated in the annual SAC Combat Competition at Bergstrom; it proved itself to be superior to competing Boeing B-47 Stratojets and Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses, securing first place in both high-level and low-level radar bombing exercises.
Crews were typically chosen from other strategic bomber squadrons. Due to some characteristics of delta-winged aircraft, new pilots used the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger as a conversion trainer, before moving to the TB-58A trainer. The B-58 was found to be difficult to fly and its three-man crews were constantly busy, but its performance was exceptional. A lightly loaded Hustler would climb at nearly 46,000 ft/min (235 m/s). In addition to its much smaller weapons load and more limited range than the B-52, the B-58 had been extremely expensive to acquire.
Excessive program expenditure
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Through FY 1961, the total cost of the B-58 program was $3 billion ($ billion in dollars). A highly complex aircraft, it also required considerable maintenance, much of which required specialized equipment and ground personnel. For comparison, the average maintenance cost per flying hour for the B-47 was $361, for the B-52 it was $1,025 and for the B-58 it was $1,440. The B-58 cost three times as much to operate as the B-52. The cost of maintaining and operating the two operational B-58 wings (39 aircraft per wing) equaled that of six wings of B-52s (only 15 aircraft per wing). Because of the support costs of six wings vs only two wings, the actual cost per aircraft of the B-52s were $1.42 million per year vs $1.21 million per year for the B-58 (this figure included special detailed maintenance for the nose landing gear, which retracted in a complex fashion to avoid the center payload).
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Compounding these exorbitant costs, the B-58 had a high accident rate: 26 B-58 aircraft were lost in accidents, or 22.4% of total production; more than half of the losses occurred during flight tests. The SAC senior leadership had been doubtful about the aircraft type from the beginning, although its crews eventually became enthusiastic about the aircraft. General Curtis LeMay was never satisfied with the bomber, and after a flight in one declared that it was too small, far too expensive to maintain in combat readiness and required an excessive number of aerial refuelings to complete a mission. Although the high altitude ferry range of the B-58 was better than that of the B-47s, the lack of forward basing resulted in a requirement for more KC-135 tanker support.
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Operational wings and retirement
Two SAC bomb wings operated the B-58 during its operational service: the 43rd Bombardment Wing (which later transitioned to the 43rd Airlift Wing), based at Carswell AFB, Texas from 1960 to 1964, and Little Rock AFB, Arkansas from 1964 to 1970; and the 305th Bombardment Wing, based at Bunker Hill AFB (later Grissom AFB), Indiana from 1961 to 1970. The 305th also operated the B-58 combat crew training school (CCTS), the predecessor of the USAF's current formal training units (FTUs).
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By the time the early problems had largely been resolved and SAC interest in the bomber had solidified, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara decided that the B-58 was not a viable weapon system. It was during the B-58's introduction that high-altitude Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAM) became a threat, especially the SA-2 Guideline, a SAM system the Soviet Union extensively deployed. The "solution" to this problem was to fly at low altitudes, minimizing the radar line-of-sight and reducing exposure time.
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Because of dense air at low altitudes, the B-58 could not fly at supersonic speeds and its moderate range was reduced further, negating the costly high-speed performance of the aircraft. Despite shortcomings, the type had its advocates within the service; according to Gunston and Gilchrist, when Secretary McNamara had requested proposals for a new manned Mach 2 bomber, General Thomas S. Power responded with a request for the B-58 to be put back into production. In late 1965, McNamara ordered retirement of the B-58 by 1970; the principal reason given for this directive was the high sustainment cost for the fleet. On 29 October 1969, the Department of Defense announced that the type would be withdrawn from service on 31 January 1970.
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Despite efforts of some officials within the Air Force to secure a reprieve, the phaseout proceeded on schedule. The last B-58s were retired in January 1970, after which they were placed into storage with the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center (MASDC) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The fleet survived intact until 1977, at which point nearly all remaining aircraft were sold to Southwestern Alloys for disposal. As a weapons system, the B-58 was replaced by the FB-111A. This aircraft was designed for low-altitude attack, to be more flexible with the carriage of conventional weapons, and less expensive to produce and maintain.
Since B-58 pilots were the only USAF pilots experienced in long-duration supersonic flight, several former Hustler crew members were selected by Colonel Douglas Nelson to fly the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird at the start of that program.
Test aircraft
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A number of B-58s were used for special trials. One was specially modified to test the Hughes radar system intended for the Lockheed YF-12 interceptor and the North American F-108 Rapier, which had an extended nose to accommodate the radar and was nicknamed "Snoopy" (see Aircraft on Display). Several improved (and usually enlarged) variants, named B-58B and B-58C by the manufacturer, were proposed but never built.
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World records
The B-58 set 19 speed records, including Cross US, and the longest supersonic flight in history. In 1963, it flew from Tokyo to London (via Alaska), a distance of , with 5 aerial refuelings in 8 hours, 35 minutes, 20.4 seconds, averaging . , this record still stands. The aircraft was serving in an operational unit, and had not been modified in any way besides being washed and waxed. One of the goals of the flight was to push the limit of its new honeycomb construction technique. The speed of the flight was limited only by the speed at which they believed the honeycomb panels would delaminate, although one of the afterburners malfunctioned and the last hour of the flight was continued at subsonic speed. This reduced the average speed to roughly Mach 1.5, despite most of the flight being at Mach 2. This B-58 was called "Greased Lightning", which was the codename for the record attempt.
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Some of the record winning aerospace trophies the B-58 won were the Bleriot trophy, the Thompson trophy, the Mackay trophy, the Bendix trophy and the Harmon trophy.
Singer John Denver's father, Lieutenant Colonel Henry J. Deutschendorf Sr., USAF, held several speed records as a B-58 pilot.
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Variants
XB-58: Prototype; two built.
YB-58A: Pre-production aircraft; 11 built.
B-58A: Three-seat medium-range strategic bomber aircraft; 86 built.
TB-58A: Training aircraft. Eight conversions from YB-58A.
NB-58A: This designation was given to a YB-58A used to test the General Electric J93 engine, originally intended for the North American XB-70 Valkyrie Mach 3 bomber.
RB-58A: Variant with ventral reconnaissance pod; 17 built.
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B-58B: Unbuilt. Larger and faster than the B-58A, this version would have had uprated J79-GE-9 engines, a longer fuselage for extra fuel capacity, canards, and the ability to carry conventional weapons. A prototype B-58B was ordered (S/N 60-1109) and a total purchase of 185 envisioned, but the entire project was canceled before construction began, due to budgetary considerations. The B variant was also planned to be the mothership for a Mach 4 parasite called the FISH, for First Invisible Super Hustler. That FISH had three ramjets that would be ignited at an altitude of at least and speeds over Mach 2. The Super Hustler would then drop from the B-58B, climb to , and accelerate to Mach 4.2 to complete its mission.
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B-58C: Unbuilt. Proposed as a cheaper alternative to the XB-70, this enlarged version would have carried more fuel and 32,500 lbf (145 kN) J58 engines, the same ones used on the Lockheed SR-71. Design studies were conducted with two- and four-engine designs. Capable of carrying conventional weapons, the C model had an estimated top speed approaching Mach 3, a supercruise capability of about Mach 2, a service ceiling of about 70,000 ft (21,300 m), and a maximum range of 5,200 nautical miles (6,000 mi; 9,600 km). As enemy defenses against high-speed, high-altitude penetration bombers improved, the value of the B-58C diminished and the program was canceled in early 1961.
B-58D: Unbuilt. Proposed as an interceptor aircraft, taking advantage of its speed and high altitude performance.
B-58E: Unbuilt. Proposed as a multi-mission platform, to have been armed with numerous air-launched ballistic missiles (ALBM).
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Convair Model 58-9: a proposed supersonic transport. First developed by Convair in 1961, it was intended to carry 58 passengers at speed in excess of Mach 2. Multiple revisions of this proposal was submitted to Congress as Convair's bid for the National Supersonic Transport program.
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Operators
United States Air Force
43rd Bombardment Wing – Carswell AFB, Texas (1960–1964); Little Rock AFB, Arkansas (1964–1970)
63rd Bombardment Squadron, Medium
64th Bombardment Squadron, Medium
65th Bombardment Squadron, Medium
6592nd Test Squadron
3958th Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (1958–1960)
305th Bombardment Wing – Bunker Hill (later Grissom AFB), Indiana (1961–1970)
364th Bombardment Squadron, Medium
365th Bombardment Squadron, Medium
366th Bombardment Squadron, Medium
Air Force Flight Test Center – Edwards AFB, California (1956–1958)
Accidents and incidents
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On October 27, 1959, a Convair B-58 Hustler jet bomber was being flown from Carswell Air Force Base near Fort Worth, Texas, to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Three civilian crew members were aboard: the pilot, Everette Wheeler, and two flight engineers, Michael Keller and Harry Blosser. At about 7:30 p.m., the plane was flying at about 25,000 feet when it developed a problem, and all three crew members ejected from the plane. Keller and Wheeler both landed safely, though Wheeler suffered a broken arm, but Blosser didn't survive. His body was found early the next morning in a field, still strapped into his ejection seat and the parachute open. The plane crashed on a field in Lake Shady (today Lake Serene) about 2 miles south of U.S. Route 98, leaving a crater 30 feet deep and 75 feet wide. After the crash, between 30 and 40 Air Force personnel were sent to investigate. They set up a temporary headquarters in the Oak Grove School auditorium. Anyone who found wreckage was asked to turn
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it in.
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On June 3, 1961 B-58A 59-2451 Firefly crashed during the Paris Air Show, killing all three on board. The aircraft had earlier made the first supersonic transatlantic crossing between New York and Paris in less than 3 hours 20 minutes.
In September 1961, a B-58 on training flight from Carswell Air Force Base suffered a fire and failure of the left main gear. A chase aircraft was sent to examine the aircraft in flight. Through the night, eight sessions of aerial refuelings were conducted, using an improved technique and, once daylight broke, a successful emergency landing was made at Edwards Air Force Base. The Air Force made a training film about the incident, including film of the landing.
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On December 8, 1964, a B-58 carrying nuclear weapons slid off an icy runway on Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Bunker Hill, Indiana and caught fire during a training drill. The five nuclear weapons on board were burned, including one 9-megaton thermonuclear weapon, causing radioactive contamination of the crash area.
On June 15, 1965, at the Paris Air Show, Lieutenant Colonel Charles D. Tubbs was killed and two other crewmen injured when their B-58 crashed. The aircraft landed short of the runway, struck the instrument approach beacons, and burst into flames.
Aircraft on display
Today there are eight B-58 survivors:
TB-58A
55-0663 – Grissom Air Museum, Grissom Air Reserve Base (former Bunker Hill AFB / former Grissom AFB), Peru, Indiana. This is the oldest remaining aircraft and the fourth B-58 built.
55-0668 – Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, Arkansas.
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B-58A
55-0665 (Snoopy) – Edwards Air Force Base, California, . Built as a YB-58A, later redesignated B-58A. This aircraft sits derelict as a photo target on Edwards AFB's photo range.
55-0666 – Built as a YB-58A, later redesignated B-58A. Under restoration at Castle Air Museum at the former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California. Formerly on display at Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum, Rantoul, Illinois.
59-2437 (Firefly II) – Lackland AFB/Kelly Field Annex (former Kelly Air Force Base), San Antonio, Texas.
59-2458 (Cowtown Hustler) – National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. This aircraft flew from Los Angeles to New York City and back on 5 March 1962, setting three separate speed records, and earning the crew the Bendix Trophy and the Mackay Trophy for 1962. The aircraft was flown to the Museum on 1 March 1969. The aircraft is on display in the Museum's Cold War gallery.
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61-2059 (Greased Lightning) – Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum near Ashland, Nebraska. It averaged 938 nmph flying 8,028 nmi. from Tokyo to London in 8 hours and 35 minutes in October 1963.
61-2080 – Pima Air & Space Museum, adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, in Tucson, Arizona. It was the last B-58 to be delivered.
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Specifications (B-58A)
Notable appearances in media
Jimmy Stewart, a bomber pilot during World War II and a brigadier general in the Air Force Reserve, appeared in the Air Force documentary film B-58 Champion of Champions. In the film, Stewart flew in the back seat of the B-58 on a typical low-altitude attack.
In the film Fail Safe, the attack on Moscow is made by a squadron of "Vindicator" bombers, fictitious aircraft. While exterior shots of the plane relied on footage of B-58s, interior shots depicted a three-man crew, similar to that of a conventional airliner, and distinct from the tandem seating on a real B-58. The fictional Vindicator bomber was again represented by the B-58 in Fail Safe, a 2000 made-for-TV remake starring George Clooney.
See also
References
Citations
Bibliography
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Adams, Chris. Deterrence: An Enduring Strategy. New York: IUniverse, Inc., 2009
Convair B-58 Hustler Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions. Washington, D.C.: United States Air Force, 2008. .
Converse, Elliott V. Rearming for the Cold War, 1945–1960 (History of Acquisition in the Department of Defense). Washington, D.C.: Office of the Secretary, Historical Office, 2012. .
Donald, David and Jon Lake, eds. Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft. London: AIRtime Publishing, 1996. .
Grant, R.G. and John R. Dailey. Flight: 100 Years of Aviation. Harlow, Essex: DK Adult, 2007. .
Gunston, Bill. American Warplanes. New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1986, p. 162. .
Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. London: Ian Allan Ltd., 1973, pp. 185–213. .
Gunston, Bill and Peter Gilchrist. Jet Bombers: From the Messerschmitt Me 262 to the Stealth B-2. Osprey, 1993. .
Hansen, Chuck. U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History. Arlington, Texas: Aerofax, 1988. .
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Higham, Robin, Carol Williams and Abigail Siddall, eds. Flying Combat Aircraft of the USAAF-USAF (Vol. 1). Andrews AFB, Maryland: Air Force Historical Foundation, 1975. .
Miller, Jay. Convair B-58 Hustler (Aerograph 4). Midland, UK: Aerofax, 1985. .
Miller, Jay. "History of the Hustler." Airpower, Vol. 6, No. 4, July 1976.
Slade, Stuart. United States Strategic Bombers 1945–2012. Newtown, Connecticut: Defense Lion Publications, 2012. .
Sorenson, David S. The Politics of Strategic Aircraft Modernization. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1995. .
Swanborough, Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. United States Military Aircraft Since 1909. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1989. .
United States Air Force Museum Guidebook. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: Air Force Museum Foundation, 1975.
Veronico, Nicholas A. and Ron Strong. AMARG: America's Military Aircraft Boneyard. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2010. .
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Wagner, Ray. American Combat Planes of the Twentieth Century. Reno, Nevada: Jack Bacon and Co., 2004. .
Wilson, Stewart. Combat Aircraft since 1945. Fyshwick, ACT, Australia: Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd, 2000, p. 38. .
Winchester, Jim, ed. "Convair B-58 Hustler." Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile). Rochester, Kent, UK: The Grange plc., 2006. .
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External links
(1959) T.O. 1B-58A-1 Flight Manual USAF B/RB-58A Aircraft
B-58 Hustler Association Homepage
B-58.com The B-58 Hustler Page, includes B-58 flight manuals
Convair B-58 Hustler Rendezvous
Aviation-history.com profile of the B-58
B-58 photographs from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company hosted by the Portal to Texas History
B-58 Voice Warning Messages
Offensive Systems and the Pod
Tailless delta-wing aircraft
1950s United States bomber aircraft
Quadjets
B-58
Aircraft first flown in 1956
Mid-wing aircraft
Strategic bombers
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Fantasia 2000 is a 1999 American animated experimental concert film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Produced by Roy E. Disney and Donald W. Ernst, it is the 38th Disney animated feature film and sequel to 1940's Fantasia. Like its predecessor, Fantasia 2000 consists of animated segments set to pieces of classical music. Celebrities including Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller, James Levine, and Angela Lansbury introduce each segment in live-action scenes directed by Don Hahn.
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After numerous unsuccessful attempts to develop a Fantasia sequel, The Walt Disney Company revived the idea shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer in 1984. The commercial success of the 1991 home video release of Fantasia convinced Eisner that there was enough public interest and funds for a sequel, to which he assigned Disney as executive producer. The music for six of the film's eight segments is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. The film includes The Sorcerer's Apprentice from the 1940 original. Each new segment was produced by combining traditional animation with computer-generated imagery.
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Fantasia 2000 premiered on December 17, 1999 at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of a concert tour that also visited London, Paris, Tokyo, and Pasadena, California. The film was then released in 75 IMAX theaters worldwide from January 1 to April 30, 2000, marking the first animated feature-length film to be released in the format. Its general release in regular theaters followed on June 15, 2000. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised several of its sequences, while also deeming its overall quality uneven in comparison to its predecessor. Budgeted at about $80–$85 million, the film grossed $90.8 million worldwide.
Program
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The film begins with the sound of a modern symphony orchestra tuning and Deems Taylor's introduction from Fantasia. Panels showing various segments from Fantasia fly in outer space and form the set and stage for a 100-person modern symphony orchestra. 100 Musicians take their seats and tune up as 22 animators and 22 artists draw at their desks before James Levine approaches the conductor's podium and signals the beginning of the first piece.
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Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Abstract patterns and shapes that resemble hundreds of colorful triangle-shaped butterflies in dozens of magentas, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, cyans, turquoises, blues, indigos, violets, purples, pinks, grays, whites, and browns in various shades, tints, tones, and hues explore a world of light and darkness whilst being pursued by a swarm of dark black pentagon or hexagon-shaped bats. The world is ultimately conquered by light and color. Introduced by surviving archival recordings by Deems Taylor.
Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi. A family of humpback whales are able to fly. The calf is separated from his parents, and becomes trapped in an iceberg. Eventually, he finds his way out with his mother's help. The family join a larger pod of whales, who fly and frolic through the clouds to emerge into outer space. Introduced by Steve Martin and Itzhak Perlman.
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Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. Set in New York City in the 1930s, and designed in the style of Al Hirschfeld's known caricatures of the time, the story follows four individuals who wish for a better life. Duke is a construction worker who dreams of becoming a jazz drummer; Joe is a down-on-his-luck unemployed man who wishes he could get a job; Rachel is a little girl who wants to spend time with her busy parents instead of being shuttled around by her governess; and John is a harried rich husband who longs for a simpler, more fun life. The segment ends with all four getting their wish, though their stories interact with each other's without any of them knowing. Introduced by Quincy Jones with pianist Ralph Grierson.
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Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Based on the fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Andersen, a broken toy soldier with one leg falls in love with a toy ballerina and protects her from an evil jack-in-the-box. Unlike the original story, this version has a happy ending. Introduced by Bette Midler featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman.
The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnival des Animaux), Finale by Camille Saint-Saëns. A flock of flamingoes tries to force a slapstick member, who enjoys playing with a yo-yo, to engage in the flock's "dull" routines. Introduced by James Earl Jones with animator Eric Goldberg.
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The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas. Based on the 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling" by Goethe, the segment is the only one featured in both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. It tells the story of Mickey Mouse, an apprentice of sorcerer Yen Sid who attempts some of his master's magic tricks before knowing how to control them. Introduced by Penn & Teller.
Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Edward Elgar. Based on the story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis, Donald Duck is Noah's assistant and Daisy Duck is Donald's wife. Donald is given the task of gathering the animals to the Ark, and misses, loses, and reunites with Daisy in the process. Introduced by James Levine featuring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
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Firebird Suite—1919 Version by Igor Stravinsky. A Sprite is awoken by her companion, an elk, and accidentally wakes a fiery spirit of destruction in a nearby volcano who destroys the forest and seemingly the Sprite. The Sprite survives and the elk encourages her to restore the forest to its normal state. Introduced by Angela Lansbury.
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Production
Development
In 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, his third animated feature film, consisting of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music. Initially he planned to have the film on continual release with new segments replacing older ones so audiences would never see the same film twice. The idea was dropped following the film's initial low box office receipts and a mixed response from critics. Following preliminary work on new segments, the idea was shelved by 1942 and was not revisited for the remainder of Disney's life. In 1980, animators Wolfgang Reitherman and Mel Shaw started preliminary work on Musicana, a feature film "mixing jazz, classical music, myths, modern art ... following the old Fantasia format" that was to present "ethnic tales from around the world with the music of the various countries". The project was cancelled in favor of Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983).
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The idea of a Fantasia sequel was revived shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company in 1984, when Walt's nephew, vice chairman Roy E. Disney, suggested it to him at a lunch. The idea had first entered Disney's mind ten years earlier, and he recalled Eisner's reaction: "It was as if a big light bulb went on over his head. The idea was enticing, but we didn't have the resources to carry it out". However, Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg showed a lack of interest in the film. He had once asked André Previn to work on a Fantasia film but Previn declined after he learned it was to feature songs by the Beatles rather than classical music. Eisner approached Leonard Bernstein with the same idea, but while he seemed enthusiastic, Bernstein died before production began. It took a further seven years before the film was reconsidered, after the 1990 reissue of Fantasia grossed $25 million domestically and the announcement of its limited
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availability on home video in 1991 prompted 9.25 million pre-orders. Disney saw its commercial success as a sign that there was enough public interest in the Fantasia franchise to make a sequel. Eisner finally gave the green-light to the film in 1991, and had Disney serve as executive producer on the basis that its production was funded by the proceeds from the video sales. Disney assigned Donald W. Ernst as producer and Hendel Butoy as supervisory director, having liked his work on The Rescuers Down Under (1990).
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During the search for a suitable conductor, Disney and Walt Disney Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher invited Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine and manager Peter Gelb to a meeting in September 1991. Disney recalled: "I asked James what his thought was on a three minute version of Beethoven's fifth symphony. He paused and went 'I think the right three minutes would be beautiful'". In November 1992, Disney, Schumacher, Levine, Gelb, and Butoy met in Vienna to discuss a collection of story reels developed, one of them being Pines of Rome, which Levine took an immediate liking to. Butoy described Levine's enthusiasm toward the film as "like a kid in a candy store". Because Katzenberg continued to express some hostility towards the film, Disney held development meetings without him and reported directly to Eisner instead, something that author James B. Stewart wrote "would have been unthinkable on any other future animation project."
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Production began under the working title of Fantasia Continued with a release in 1997. The title was changed to Fantasia 1999, followed by Fantasia 2000 to coincide with its theatrical release in 2000. Disney formed its initial running order with half of the Fantasia program and only "three or four new numbers" with the aim of releasing a "semi-new movie". Realizing the idea would not work, he kept three Fantasia segments—The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Nutcracker Suite, and Dance of the Hours—in the program for "quite a while". Night on Bald Mountain was the most difficult segment for him to remove from his original running order because it was one of his favorites. He had placed it in the middle of the film without Ave Maria, but felt it did not work and scrapped the idea. Later on, Dance of the Hours was dropped and The Nutcracker Suite was replaced by Rhapsody in Blue during the last few months of production following the response from numerous test screenings. Disney kept The
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Sorcerer's Apprentice in the final program as a homage to Fantasia. The segment underwent digital restoration by Cinesite in Los Angeles. Disney considered using Clair de Lune, a piece originally made for Fantasia that followed two Great white herons flying through the Everglades at night, but thought it was "pretty boring". An idea to have "a nightmare and a dream struggling for a sleeping child's soul" to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff was fully storyboarded, but fell through.
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Segments
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Symphony No. 5
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Symphony No. 5 is an abstract segment created by Pixote Hunt with story development by Kelvin Yasuda. In December 1997, after rejecting pitches from four other animators, Disney and Ernst asked Hunt for his ideas. Hunt first thought of the story on a morning walk in Pasadena, California, one depicting a battle of "good" against "evil" and how the conflict resolves itself. It took Hunt approximately two years, from start to finish, to complete the segment. Disney and Ernst decided to go with Hunt's idea; Hunt avoided producing an entirely abstract work because "you can get something abstract on every computer screen" with ease. Hunt divided the segment into 31 mini-scenes, noting down points in which he would employ vivid color when the music was bright and fluid, and then switch to darker hues when the music felt darker and denser. To gain inspiration in how the shapes would move, Hunt and his associates visited San Diego Zoo, a butterfly farm, and observed slow motion footage of
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