#xb-70

[coolthingsguyslike]

[nocternalrandomness]

XB-70A - Edwards Air Force Base - 1967

[lonestarflight]

“Rockwell Tradition in High Performance Aerospace Vehicles: XB-70, X-30 National Aero-Space Plane, Space Shuttle, X-15, B-1B Lancer, X-10 Navaho, and Apollo Saturn."

Artwork by R. Hargrave

Date: September 12, 1988

Mike Acs's Collection: SR288

[dronescapesvideos]

XB-70 Valkyrie, Things You Might Now Know | The North American Supersonic Bomber That Never Was

[scanzen]

USAF/North American XB-70A Valkyrie rollout, North American Aviation facilities (USAF Plant 42(?)), Palmdale, CA, 11 May 1964.

excellent hi-res scan

via Mike Acs/Flickr

[radarsteddybear]

The funky-shaped plane in these photographs is the North American XB-70 Valkyrie.  The Valkyrie is a high-altitude, supersonic nuclear strike bomber originally conceived in the 1950s.  However, by the early 1960s, new Surface-to-Air missiles became enough of a threat to these types of high-speed, high-altitude aircraft that the project was cancelled.  However, the Air Forced ordered two Valkyries anyway to test the characteristics of such an aircraft.  This Valkyrie reached Mach 3 in October of 1965 and continued to provide valuable information to the Air Force until it was retired to the museum in 1969.  The second Valkyrie was destroyed in an accidental mid-air collision in 1966.The bottom two pictures are from two different Air Force Museum books that I have.  The first is just called "U.S. Air Force Museum" and has no copyright date (at least, not that I can find), and the second is A Pictorial Tour of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, 2024.

[airmanisr]

XB-70 VALKYRIE USAF MUSEUM DAYTON by ERIC SALARD Via Flickr: MSN 1 XB-70 VALKYRIE USAF USAF MUSEUM DAYTON

[garyschroeder]

[adastra-sf]

What a wild plane! Initially designed as a supersonic bomber in the 1950s and early 1960s, anti-aircraft missile tech and the advent of ICBMs made it obsolete before production really began. So it served only as a flying test-bed.

But check out these stats:

It could fly 2,020 mph (3,250 km/h) at 74,000 feet (23,000 meters) altitude. On May 19, 1966, the second (of two total) XB-70 aircraft reached Mach 3.06 (more than 3× the speed of sound!) and flew at that speed for 32 minutes, covering 2,400 miles (3,900 km) in 91 minutes of flight - that's almost all the way across the continental USA in just an hour and a half!

[coolthingsguyslike]

[lonestarflight]

A North American XB-70 Valkyrie taking off in the early morning.

source

[otthonzulles]

you really need to see this, found the other ones...

North American XB-70 Valkyrie through the lens of photographer Ralph Crane; ~ 1964-1969

ralph crane… b70 @ life

[dronescapesvideos]

The History Of The Secretive U.S. Military Test Site | Edwards Air Force Base

[jet-teeth]

Loon for @beetle3000-1 ! Couldn't decide on an angle so I did All Of Them. I adore this concept for a livery!

[airmanisr]

XB-70 Valkyrie at Palmdale, CA by Jim Phillips Via Flickr: Rollout day. Built by North American Aviation. Triple sonic experimental bomber. Only 2 built. My dad, Stanley R. Filip worked for North American and on the B-70 and gave me this photograph.

[airmanisr]

XB-70