#b-70

[lonestarflight]

North American XB-70 Valkyrie

[monkeyssalad-blog]

XB-70A #1 liftoff with TB-58A chase aircraft by NASA on The Commons Via Flickr: Description: This photo shows XB-70A #1 taking off on a research flight, escorted by a TB-58 chase plane. The TB-58 (a prototype B-58 modified as a trainer) had a dash speed of Mach 2. This allowed it to stay close to the XB-70 as it conducted its research maneuvers. When the XB-70 was flying at or near Mach 3, the slower TB-58 could often keep up with it by flying lower and cutting inside the turns in the XB-70's flight path when these occurred. The XB-70 was the world's largest experimental aircraft. It was capable of flight at speeds of three times the speed of sound (roughly 2,000 miles per hour) at altitudes of 70,000 feet. It was used to collect in-flight information for use in the design of future supersonic aircraft, military and civilian. The major objectives of the XB-70 flight research program were to study the airplane's stability and handling characteristics, to evaluate its response to atmospheric turbulence, and to determine the aerodynamic and propulsion performance. In addition there were secondary objectives to measure the noise and friction associated with airflow over the airplane and to determine the levels and extent of the engine noise during takeoff, landing, and ground operations. The XB-70 was about 186 feet long, 33 feet high, with a wingspan of 105 feet. Originally conceived as an advanced bomber for the United States Air Force, the XB-70 was limited to production of two aircraft when it was decided to limit the aircraft's mission to flight research. The first flight of the XB-70 was made on September 21, 1964. The number two XB-70 was destroyed in a mid-air collision on June 8, 1966. Program management of the NASA-USAF research effort was assigned to NASA in March 1967. The final flight was flown on February 4, 1969. Designed by North American Aviation (later North American Rockwell and still later, a division of Boeing) the XB-70 had a long fuselage with a canard or horizontal stabilizer mounted just behind the crew compartment. It had a sharply swept 65.6-percent delta wing. The outer portion of the wing could be folded down in flight to provide greater lateral-directional stability. The airplane had two windshields. A moveable outer windshield was raised for high-speed flight to reduce drag and lowered for greater visibility during takeoff and landing. The forward fuselage was constructed of riveted titanium frames and skin. The remainder of the airplane was constructed almost entirely of stainless steel. The skin was a brazed stainless-steel honeycomb material. Six General Electric YJ93-3 turbojet engines, each in the 30,000-pound-thrust class, powered the XB-70. Internal geometry of the inlets was controllable to maintain the most efficient airflow to the engines. NASA Media Usage Guidelines Credit: NASA Image Number: ED97-44244-2 Date: February 4, 1969

[misforgotten2]

The B-70 project was cancelled a year later. Too much too late.

Aerospace Engineering Magazine 1960

[lonestarbattleship]

The first North American XB-70A Valkyrie (SN 62-0001) in flight, circa 1960s.

NARA: 6362754, 6362753

061122-F-1234P-022, 061122-F-1234P-021, 061122-F-1234P-020

[vbeserk]

A high speed bird, the XB-70 Valkyrie is the star of this photo series.

The B-70 program was developed during the 50s to be a high altitude, mach 3+, deep penetration nuclear bomber, it was designed to get into soviet territory, deploy it’s nuclear payload and speed the hell out. With the use of this tactic, the B-70 would be only a few minutes in range of a specific radar station but the operators wouldn’t be able to pinpoint a good interception position and even if interceptors were scrambled the Valkyrie could out run and use it’s altitude to escape the soviet fighters of that time.

As the soviets developed surface-to-air missiles (SAM) the program started to become obsolete, the USAF tried to shift it’s role to low level penetration to evade the SAMs using the terrain but it would fill the same position as the B-52 (the bomber it was meant to replace) but with greater cost and shorter range.

Due to the lack of roles for it to fulfill, the B-70 program was cancelled by the USAF in 1961 but the development was then turned over to NASA to research the effects of long duration, high speed flights. Two prototypes were built designated XB-70A Valkyrie and were tested from 1964 to 1969, in 1966 though one of the Valkyries crashed with a F-104 Starfighter during a General Eletric photoshoot (the manufacturer of it’s six engines), both planes were lost.

Now, the remaining Valkyrie is on display at the National Museum of the USAF near Dayton, Ohio.

If you have any suggestions or wanna send an entire photo series of your own, feel free to send them to me and i’ll upload them!

[lonestarflight]

"This illustration shows a B-70-type aircraft carrying something on its lower surface. There are rumors the U.S. developed a secret space transport system using a modified B-70 as a mother-ship."

Date: December 4, 1960

Posted on Flickr by Drew Granston: link

[lonestarflight]

"The XB-70 Valkyrie was an extremely large airframe; the YF-12 was not small being 107 feet long. But if you compared the two, the Blackbird looked small. The Mach 3 rivalry between the YF-12 and the XB-70.

North American Rockwell made the first Mach 3 bomber (Although the six-engine Valkyrie could only dash to Mach 3 due to aero heating and not cruising at that speed).

Their public relations firm was advertising every place they could about how their airplane could fly higher and faster than anyone could before.

On the other side of Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), the YF-12 Blackbird kept its secrets near and dear. The YF-12 was variant of the A-12 with a backseat for the missile launch controller The YF-12s took the seventh through ninth slots on the A-12 assembly line; these were designated as YF-12A high-altitude, Mach 3 interceptor.

The main changes involved modifying the A-12's nose by cutting back the chines to accommodate the huge Hughes AN/ASG-18 fire-control radar initially developed for the XF-108 with two infrared search and track sensors embedded in the chine leading edge, and the addition of the second cockpit for a crew member to operate the fire control radar for the air-to-air missile system. This airframe could easily fly Mach 3.

As told by Donn A. Byrnes and Kenneth D. Hurley in their book Blackbird Rising: Birth of an Aviation Legend, they were both being tested at Edwards AFB at the same time, so naturally, they hung out at the same bar after work. One of the local watering holes was called Hernandez Hideaway.

YF-12 test pilots, often flew at Mach 3 more often than the XB-70 would do in a lifetime.

Jim Eastham had just about enough of the bragging he heard daily about the XB-70. Eastham was a Lockheed test pilot who had already flown the A-12 and was now flying the YF-12.

One evening at the bar Al White of the XB-70 program was raving about his high Mach numbers when Eastham couldn't stand it any longer. He turned to White and said, 'Al, we do more Mach 3 time in a single YF-12 mission than you guys have flown in your entire program'

Al looked at Jim, and without missing a beat, he said, "yes that's true, Jim, but we lose pieces that are bigger than what you fly!!'"

Written by Linda Sheffield Miller, artwork by Peter Chilelli.

Posted on "Born into the Wild Blue Yonder Habubrats" Facebook page: link

source

[lonestarflight]

A Lockheed U-2 flying over Edwards Air Force Base.

Note: a North American XB-70 Valkyrie on the airport apron.

Posted on the Phoenix Aviation Research Facebook page: link