CALL TO GLORY – How the Convair B-58 Hustler Helped Win the Cold War
CALL TO GLORY – How the Convair B-58 Hustler Helped Win the Cold War
ISBN 978-0-692-47545-4
Special 10-Year Print Anniversary Edition
By George A. Haloulakos, MBA, CFA
A special 10th Anniversary Edition of “CALL TO GLORY – How the Convair B-58 Hustler Helped Win the Cold War” is now available for purchase directly from the author, George Haloulakos, CFA. This anniversary edition now features 11 pages of vintage aircraft photos in full color on high quality paper with “perfect binding.” If you wish to order copies as a unique gift for aviation aficionados or to donate copies to your neighborhood library to inform, educate and inspire a new reading audience, please contact George Haloulakos via email: [email protected]
Author Profile
George Haloulakos brings a unique lens to aviation history. As a CFA Charterholder with no prior service or manufacturing ties to the B-58 community, he approaches the Hustler from a financial‐quantitative standpoint rather than a doctrinal or technological one. That independence earned him unprecedented access to retired SAC crews, giving the book a foundation of firsthand oral histories married to rigorous cost-benefit analysis.
Book’s Approach & Strengths
- Extensive oral histories with pilots, navigators, and maintenance crews reveal operational nuances often missing from official records.
- A balanced economic appraisal deconstructs the oft-cited “high accident rate” narrative by comparing loss rates and sortie costs across contemporaneous platforms.
- It reframes strategic value: beyond raw metrics, the Hustler’s Mach-2 deterrence and psychological impact on Warsaw Pact planners get their due as Cold War force multipliers.
- The prose is data-rich yet accessible, weaving anecdotes with spreadsheets—a blend that resonates with both aviation buffs and finance-oriented readers.
Readership Reception
The book’s niche focus and self-published imprint have limited its mainstream exposure, yet among enthusiasts it’s garnered warm praise for its fresh perspective:
Overall, readers who seek a counter-narrative to the “overpriced, underperforming bomber” trope find Call to Glory a rewarding deep-dive. Its academic rigor, combined with vivid first hand stories, has secured it a quiet but loyal following in the aviation history community.
A decade on, this book by George Haloulakos on the Convair B-58 Hustler stands as a corrective to skewed cost-only histories. Its chief legacy may be inspiring future authors to blend quantitative finance methods with oral history, illuminating military platforms in a more holistic light. This is supported by a number of expert reviews, including the following noteworthy testimonies from two Military Aviation Legends.
Noteworthy Testimonies on the Authorship of George Haloulakos
“As Chief of the Flight Test Division – Bomber Test Section, my oversight of the tests on the B-58 Hustler by one of my test pilots, made this CALL TO GLORY book presentation by George a nostalgic thing for me.”
Brig Gen Robert (Bob) Cardenas – United States Air Force. Honoree of the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Gen Cardenas flew the Flying Wing, North American B-45 Tornado and piloted the B-29 Superfortress that launched Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1 on its flight that broke the sound barrier.
“You are one heck of a writer! For 20 years I was a US Congressman known as “B-One Bob.” If I had hired you, George, I would have had the best writer with the most expansive and most intensive knowledge on all things aerospace.”
Robert K. Dornan. US Representative (CA). 1977-1983, 27th Congressional District; 1985-1993, 38th Congressional District; 1993-1997, 46th Congressional District. The Honorable Mr. Dornan championed a strong US defense policy during his more than two-decade tenure of service in the US Congress.
READING:
https://photorecon.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Call-to-Glory-Cover-Proof_10thAnniv.pdf
https://photorecon.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/CALL_TO_GLORY_10th_Anniv_Profile.pdf
