Following the eliminations of some of their most serious deficiencies, ten RB-57As were modified for high-altitude reconnaissance under a project first known as Lightweight and later renamed Heartthrob.
The work was performed in August of 1955 by the Wright Air Development Center and by Martin. All equipment not absolutely essential for the daytime photography role was eliminated. The bomb bay door was removed and the area was skinned over. The seat for the system operator/navigator was removed, and an optical viewfinder was installed in the nose so that the pilot could perform all the reconnaissance duties without the assistance of the navigator. The clear plexiglass nose cone was replaced by an opaque fiberglass cone, but with a small optical glass window cut for the viewfinder. The plane's J65-BW-5s were replaced by higher-thrust J65-W-7s. The aircraft was referred to as RB-57A-1. The weight reduction program shaved 5665 pounds off the weight of the RB-57A, and the ceiling was increased by 5000 feet.
Six Heartthrob RB-57A-1s went to the 7499th Composite Squadron of the USAF in Europe. Four went to the 6007th Composite Squadron in the Far East. A blanket of secrecy surrounds their operations even today, but it has leaked out that they probably flew high-altitude reconnaissance missions over eastern Europe during the mid-1950s. It is possible that one of these planes was shot down by a surface to air missile during the Hungarian uprising of 1956.
Two RB-57As were delivered to the 4th Squadron of the Republic of China Air Force in September of 1957. One of these, ROCAF serial number 5642, was shot down by a pair of PLAAF J-5s on February 18, 1958. The pilot, Capt Guang-Huia Chao, was killed.
Sources:
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American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner, Doubleday,
1982.
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Post World War II Bombers, Marcelle Size Knaack, Office of Air Force
History, 1988.
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Martin B-57 Canberra--The Complete Record, Robert C. Mikesh,
Schiffer Military/Aviation History, 1995.
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Canberra: The Operational Record, Robert Jackson, Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1989.
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The English Electric Canberra Mk.1 and IV, K. Munson, Aircraft
In Profile, Doubleday, 1969
- United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.
