It’s safe to say that the North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie bomber was outdated before the first flight was ever made. Initially, the plan was solid: be faster than any interceptor aircraft could possibly try to be, fly high enough to stay out of the range of low-level missiles, and stick around long enough to get the desired effect before blasting out of the area like a rocket. In that kind of thinking, a Mach 3 bomber made perfect sense. But by the time the intercontinental ballistic missile became a real thing in the late 1950s, the idea of any kind of bomber became a thing of the past, and a supersonic bomber a radical idea that wasn’t as solid as it was before.
But the XB-70 was built, with two aircraft being produced for testing purposes: 62-0001 and 62-0207. First flight happened on September 21st, 1964 and by the time the second craft was built, issues that had cropped up with the first airframe had been worked out on trial flights. By 1966, the performance numbers told the tale: a fastest speed recorded of 2,020 miles per hour; a top Mach speed of 3.08; and a total of 32 minutes of sustained Mach 3+ speeds in flight. The Valkyrie was many things, but it was no joke in the power department, thanks to it’s six GE YJ83-GE-3 engines. Between NASA and the United States Air Force, lots of research was done involving sonic booms, supersonic flight characteristics, structural dynamics and more.
Sadly, the Valkyrie’s story was never really a positive one. Marred by costs, teething issues and a mid-air collision that killed two test pilots and destroyed Valkyrie 62-0207, the XB-70 was never going to be more than an aviation footnote. But back in the 1960s, this was as radical as it got. Frankly, it’s still top-level stuff to this day, with only the SR-71 Blackbird besting it.
I think that an ideal opportunity was missed by not turning this stunningly beautiful aircraft into an American competitor for Concorde. Its performance was proven and development costs of the conversion would have been covered by profits generated. But by the same token Concorde would have made a great bomber or a reconnaissance plane!
This aircraft was never meant to be anything other than a research vehicle. It was never intended to become a production aircraft. If intercontinental ballistic missiles made strategic bombers obsolete, why’d we just extend teh B-52’s life to 2040 (for now, I bet it goes far beyond that!)? The B-1B is a supersonic strategic bomber, we built that in the ’80’s. No, your assessment is quite flawed.
I go to Wright Patt every few years just to make sure they’re taking good care of the old girl. She was made back when we did really great things.
it is really a fantastic thing to see in person at the airforce museum in Dayton ohio
Not very impressive for a first flight. Faulty gear retraction, engine malfunction and locked brake all on one flight. Pretty iffy preflight checkup. But it did get better.
Did you know much of the design of the plane was taken from the development of the Canadian Avro Arrow, which flew in 1959? The Arrow was a large 2-man twin engine fighter interceptor that achieved over Mach 2. Look it up, and study the shape of the wing, the underside of the fuselage, the air intakes. The Canadian government got cold feet over the cost of the program, and also recognized that ICBMs would change the game and pulled the plug after 4 planes were completed. Most of the engineers who designed the Arrow got jobs at North American, Lockheed, etc and took their knowledge along with them. The design similarities between the Arrow and the B70 are quite obvious.
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