The North American XB-70

I know its not a current project, but today I was down in Dayton, Ohio with my parents for my sister's dance team camp and my dad and I went to the Air Force Museum. We went on the tour of the R&D/Presidential aircraft hangars, and the R&D hangar housed the last remaining XB-70. Pardon the acronym/slang, but OMFG!!! It was amazing!

It was first proposed to be a high-altitude, high-speed replacement for the B-52, but was then classified as a high-altitude, high-speed test aircraft.

Here's a few links to some more detailed info on the plane:
001 -- Flight of the Valkyrie
Wiki XB-70 page
Unreal Aircraft - Lost Classics - North American XB-70 Valkyrie

And a page on the midair collision with an escort fighter:
XB-70/F-104 Midair Collision

In my humble opinion, this has got to be one of the most beautiful planes ever built. And it's huuuuuuuuge... I'm pretty sure if you chopped the tailfin off of an F-16 you could fit it under the main body of the Valkyrie.

(Sorry if this is in the wrong forum area, I thought this was the most appropriate place for it)

nice post there i really appreciate any and all types of informative tidbits in general, and am interested in flight and airplanes a li'l bit as well. and the previous post has both althought it might have been better if the OP just used the search button and searched for XB-70 - lots of threads about this bird

nah, to each his own .. thanks for posting anyways

This is the biggest mistake US made to abort the programe of Valkyrie. If this bomber entered service, nothing can intercept, even get close to.

Originally posted by emile
This is the biggest mistake US made to abort the programe of Valkyrie. If this bomber entered service, nothing can intercept, even get close to.

Well, It is one of my most favorite a/c of all time. However, advances in Soviet SAMS's and the Mig-25 (Which was developed as a direct responce) and follow on Mig-31 would have made the aircraft a sitting duck.

However, if you wanted to load it up with CALCMS and use it as a very fast cruise missile carrier you may have had something.

Big favourite of mine too.

Like the Concorde it's just a strikingly beautiful aeroplane and so incredibly advanced considering the period it was designed and manufactured in.

Unfortunately (for some) aesthetics, whether unique and outstanding or not, are hardly the yardstick by which military aircraft are selected.

A 'fleet' of B70s would have been outrageously expensive to operate and manitain, utterly vulnerable to a proper SAM defence network such as the USSR had in place by the 1970s.
With the advent of the ICBM it was obviously going to be cheaper and more secure to place more eggs in the missile 'basket'.
The B70 just wasn't needed - and it's fairly obvious why the B52 survived those calculations.

.......and last of all, with everything we know know about the amplified and enduring effects of very high altitude pollution, it was probably not the best idea to 'go there' (in terms of an 'arms race' of very numerous very high and very fast aircraft regularly operating).

The little-known F108 Rapier 'companion' fighter is also worth a look into as a little additon to the B70 story (ditto 'zip fuels').

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
The little-known F108 Rapier 'companion' fighter is also worth a look into as a little additon to the B70 story (ditto 'zip fuels').

Excellent, i had thought about mentioning the a/c in my post as well. For those unfamiliar the F-108 which never got out of mockup was to have been a Mach 3 fighter escort for the notational B-70.