XB-70 Valkyrie

[Weatherman2020]

Cold War Bomber prototype. Could fly Mach 3 for almost 3 hours. Wing shape that folded allowed it to ride its own shock wave for lift.
The Concord SST was later made based upon what was learned.

Rollout May 1964. My wife to be is in the blue dress in the lower right corner.

Unfortunately the program was dropped because at the same time rocket development was the direction the powers to be wanted to go for delivery of nukes to the Soviet Union. A mid air collision with a chase plane made it easy for them to kill what I think is the coolest jet ever made.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Last survivor at the Air Force museum in Ohio

 

[TroglocratsRdumb]

I saw the remaining XB-70 on static display at Wright-Patterson AFB.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Had a model of that when I was young. Today's tech would solve it's problems

 

[Weatherman2020]

Had a model of that when I was young. Today's tech would solve it's problems

And todays tech is due to lessons learned.

 

[Manonthestreet]

I would rather have a fleet of those than B52 s.

 

[Oddball]

Cold War Bomber prototype. Could fly Mach 3 for almost 3 hours. Wing shape that folded allowed it to ride its own shock wave for lift.
The Concord SST was later made based upon what was learned.
View attachment 821226View attachment 821227View attachment 821228

Rollout May 1964. My wife to be is in the blue dress in the lower right corner.
View attachment 821229

Unfortunately the program was dropped because at the same time rocket development was the direction the powers to be wanted to go for delivery of nukes to the Soviet Union. A mid air collision with a chase plane made it easy for them to kill what I think is the coolest jet ever made.

".....what I think is the coolest jet ever made."

That would be the B-58 Hustler, followed closely by the plane that accidentally struck the Valkyrie.

 

[1srelluc]

The Sukhoi T-4, which never made it out of prototype, was the Soviets attempt at a sustained Mach 3 bomber.

Sukhoi T-4 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Weatherman2020]

The Sukhoi T-4, which never made it out of prototype, was the Soviets attempt at a sustained Mach 3 bomber.

Sukhoi T-4 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Soviets always tried to copy everything we did.

 

[Weatherman2020]

SR-71 at 75,000 ft, Mach 3
XB-70 did 77,000 ft Mach 3.1

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

Cold War Bomber prototype. Could fly Mach 3 for almost 3 hours. Wing shape that folded allowed it to ride its own shock wave for lift.
The Concord SST was later made based upon what was learned.
View attachment 821226View attachment 821227View attachment 821228

Rollout May 1964. My wife to be is in the blue dress in the lower right corner.
View attachment 821229

Unfortunately the program was dropped because at the same time rocket development was the direction the powers to be wanted to go for delivery of nukes to the Soviet Union. A mid air collision with a chase plane made it easy for them to kill what I think is the coolest jet ever made.

Yeah, like the B-58 hustler that went supersonic, it was very hard to deliver payloads of bombs(not smart bombs) at the time. When traveling as fast as they were, sometimes the drop had to be below the horizon, and might be close by 100 miles.

 

[toobfreak]

Cold War Bomber prototype.

That and the SR-71, my two favorite planes. Too bad that one was destroyed and right after that, missile technology made such massive supersonic bombers essentially obsolete.

The XB-70 could leave the USA and be anywhere on the planet in only 6 hours or less.

 

[whitehall]

What's the point? Where are you going to go for three hours at three times the speed of sound?

 

[Oddball]

What's the point? Where are you going to go for three hours at three times the speed of sound?

Minot to Moscow.

 

[whitehall]

Minot to Moscow.

Really? A freaking missile could do the same thing and wouldn't have to be refueled

 

[Oddball]

Really? A freaking missile could do the same thing and wouldn't have to be refueled

Do a search on "nuclear triad" and get back to us.

 

[whitehall]

Do a search on "nuclear triad" and get back to us.

Do a search on three times the speed of sound and get back to us.

 

[Oddball]

Do a search on three times the speed of sound and get back to us.

I was in SAC, Skeezix....There was a reason for nuke bomber bases in North Dakota and the UP.

 

[TroglocratsRdumb]

XB-70 Crash

 

[TroglocratsRdumb]

xb70 ejection capsule