XB 70; the coolest thing the US ever flew.

Hello, newbie here.

I'm a bit of a fan of the amazing high altitude mach 3 North American XB 70, the third aircraft to stand with the Concorde and the B1/Tu-160 as the most pleasing aircraft designs, IMO, ever.

In Jeanette Remak & Joe Ventolo jr's 'XB70 Valkyrie, The Ride to Valhalla' (shame about the sub-title) they mention an AV3 (broken up before completion) and offered few details about this craft. I wonder if anymore has come to light since the book was published and if there are any other Valkyrie fans out there?

Any links to some decent pics appreciated (for some reason this is a really poorly covered plane).

Here's one old one from the ATS archives:
Interesting Russian Bomber


seekerof

I think, in my knowledge, that the SR-71, or Blackbird was the coolest US thing ever flown. It is being [re]-modified for SO many things.

Originally posted by cma
I think, in my knowledge, that the SR-71, or Blackbird was the coolest US thing ever flown. It is being [re]-modified for SO many things.

- each to their own cma!

Originally posted by Seekerof
Here's one old one from the ATS archives:
Interesting Russian Bomber


seekerof

- thank you seekerof. Interesting stuff.

I had seen that prototype sukhoi bomber before and I love the way this suff works. Obviously there was probably some 'sharing' (one way or another!) of information (just like with Concorde and the Tu 144).

Also it's well worth remembering that physics and metallurgy are 'owned' by no-one and that similar demands will likely end up with similar solutions.

I've noticed that that is a point a few here could do with remembering! lol.

check the Tupolev 160 black jack.

www.fas.org...


the Tupolev 144 concordski was mainly for passengers transport
and not military purpose.

one XB-70 is exhibited in the USAF museum and the other one
was destroyed because Joe Walker flew his F-104 startfighter into the big airplanes tail.

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey


- each to their own cma!

yah, that is my opinion on what we KNOW actually exists.
each to their own, that should be in my signature....

The XB-70 was definitely a sweet aircraft. The USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB has No. 1 on display (link). I was there 10 years or so ago, and I remember being awestruck when I saw it. It's sheer size is amazing! It's lines make it look like something you'd expect to see being designed now, not 40 years ago (first flight in 1964).

the blackbird and even science things not of this nature have not been inproved since a while ago or when they were made. That, my friends, is SAD.

Originally posted by cma
I think, in my knowledge, that the SR-71, or Blackbird was the coolest US thing ever flown. It is being [re]-modified for SO many things.

Sorry cma, but your aerospace pinup girl is just a memory. Thanks for the memories.

Originally posted by cma
I think, in my knowledge, that the SR-71, or Blackbird was the coolest US thing ever flown. It is being [re]-modified for SO many things.

Re-modified? The SR-71 was retired for the last time in 2001 when NASA's aircraft were removed from service. Most, if not all, of the remaining Blackbirds are now museum displays.

The XB-70 in YOUR opinion is the coolest thing the Americans have ever flown, in my opinion(if it at all matters) the X-36 is the coolest thing- no tail wings.

Shattered OUT...

Here's one, and there are links there, too. Alternatively, just google for "XB70 Valkyrie".


And I agree. It's an amazing aircraft. I've seen the only remaining XB-70 up close and personal, and it's just beautiful. (I was a B-52G Crew Chief in the USAF.) It's at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, near Dayton, OH. If ya get the chance, check it out. You won't regret it.

Originally posted by Ouizel
Here's one, and there are links there, too. Alternatively, just google for "XB70 Valkyrie".


And I agree. It's an amazing aircraft. I've seen the only remaining XB-70 up close and personal, and it's just beautiful. (I was a B-52G Crew Chief in the USAF.) It's at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, near Dayton, OH. If ya get the chance, check it out. You won't regret it.

Really, from what I understand, only one was made, it never went into full production due to its cost, it was shot down in 1966 by MiG interceptors.

Shattered OUT...

[Edited on 28-5-2004 by ShatteredSkies]

Actually, Shattered, two were built, one was crashed in about the timeframe that you specified, however, it was due to a midair collision between the XB70 and an F-104 Starfighter. The Starfighter got too close to the Valkyrie, and the wingtip vortices pulled the F-104 into the XB-70, shearing off the Valkyrie's wingtips, and vertical stabilizers. The pilot of the Starfighter was killed instantly, and the XB-70 pilots ejected. One survived, the other didn't make it out of the aircraft and was killed when it hit the ground. I've seen the photographs of the incident. There weren't any other aircraft around, and it was a photo-op formation with several other aircraft. The downed Valkyrie was the second aircraft produced. (I think the tail number was 0207) The first one produced was used for high speed testing, and was flown several more times after #2 was crashed. It was donated to the USAF museum, and is in the Modern Flight hangar at the museum and can be seen daily. (It's tail number is 0001) I, as I may have stated before, have seen and touched this aircraft.

EDITED BECAUSE IT WAS TOO HARSH.

Shattered, I know that this aircraft exists, and the other wasn't shot down. The project was cancelled, partially because of cost, and also for political reasons. (The USSR didn't have anything that they could shoot it down with. The top speed on the bomber was faster than their AA missiles, so the US discontinued the project partially because it could have sparked off WWIII)

[Edited on 28-5-2004 by Ouizel]

A pic here showing the crash with the other fighter. That was really unfortunate

I agree that this is one sweet looking aircraft. One of my favorites along with the sr-71 and the Avro Arrow. I love the way the 6 engines are all lined up together in the rear, just looks really cool I think. I've heard that the engines in the xb-70 were very similar to the engines that were in the arrow. Any truth to this? Perhaps the guy who worked at Avro worked on this project after Avro got shut down. A lot of them did move to the states.

Originally posted by Ouizel
Shattered, I know that this aircraft exists, and the other wasn't shot down. The project was cancelled, partially because of cost, and also for political reasons. (The USSR didn't have anything that they could shoot it down with. The top speed on the bomber was faster than their AA missiles, so the US discontinued the project partially because it could have sparked off WWIII)
[Edited on 28-5-2004 by Ouizel]

The project was discontinued when the AF realized that high speed bombing would no longer be the case. All existing bombers were modified to conduct low level missions. That was one of the reasons that the B-1A was cancelled by the Carter administration. When Reagan was elected the program was begun again as a high-speed low level bomber.

In addition, the USSR had already successfully flown the MIG-25, an aircraft who was designed to shoot down the high speed high flying XB-70.

Originally posted by COOL HAND
The project was discontinued when the AF realized that high speed bombing would no longer be the case. All existing bombers were modified to conduct low level missions. That was one of the reasons that the B-1A was cancelled by the Carter administration. When Reagan was elected the program was begun again as a high-speed low level bomber.

In addition, the USSR had already successfully flown the MIG-25, an aircraft who was designed to shoot down the high speed high flying XB-70.

Now, I knew that, having flown on a B-52 during a low level mission, which it was not designed for. Yes, the Foxbat was specifically created as a counter for the Valkyrie.

I still wish that they hadn't cancelled the project. Neat airplane, that one.

Thanks for the correction.

There is one more reason why xb-70 was cancelled
I'm prety sure that the russians had AA missiles that could shut it down
I just have to make a small research
more to come...

here is some

www.ufx.org...

Air Force planners realized that since the angular B-70 had an enormous radar cross-section, Soviet surveillance radars would be able to detect it at great distances and alert SAM installations

Soviet threats to US bombers as seen by SAC planners in 1959: SA-2 missile, TALL KING early warning radar, manned interceptors in the class of the experimental MiG Ye-152 armed with air-to-air missiles