Tag: XB-70 Valkyrie
The tale said that President Johnson was supposed to name the Blackbird the "RS-71" and that he confused the letters, reversed them, and said "SR-71" The following story appears in Col. Richard H. Graham's book Flying the SR-71 Blackbird. On 24 July, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave a news conference at the State Department auditorium with 315 people in attendance. For...
Bailing out and losing the XB-70 was quickly becoming the only option... XB-70 Valkyrie emergency landing. The B-70 Valkyrie, with a planned cruise speed of Mach 3 and operating altitude of 70,000 feet, was to be the ultimate high-altitude, high-speed manned strategic bomber. Events, however, would cause it to play a far different role in the history of aviation. By the early...
There was trouble with both sets of main gear. On the left side, the gear had not fully lowered before rotating to meet the direction of travel, leaving the rear wheels higher, rather than lower, than the front set of wheels... The futuristic XB-70A was originally conceived in the 1950s as a high-altitude, nuclear strike bomber that could fly at Mach...
SR-71s flew off the coast of Russia, "taunting and toying with MiG-25s sent up to intercept them, scooting up to altitudes the Soviet planes could not reach," Viktor Belenko, former Soviet MiG-25 pilot In the late 1960s, the USSR revealed the existence of the aircraft that appeared to be the world’s deadliest fighter, the MiG-25 (NATO reporting name “Foxbat”). This...
The XB-70 Valkyrie No. 2 was destroyed on Jun. 8, 1966 following an accidental mid-air collision Taken on Jul. 17, 1965, the impressive photo in this post shows the North American XB-70 Valkyrie No. 2 arriving at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) following its maiden flight from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. Noteworthy this aircraft was destroyed on Jun....
The XB-70 Valkyrie was flown by North American test pilot Alvin S. White and Col. Joseph F. Cotton and took off from Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, and landed to Edwards AFB Taken on Sept. 21, 1964, the interesting photo in this post features the North American XB-70 Valkyrie experimental aircraft performing its maiden flight which actually saw the aircraft...
The X-15 was a research airplane in the purest sense, whereas the XB-70 was an experimental bomber intended for production but diverted to research Taken in 1967 at Dryden Flight Research Center the interesting photo in this article shows the X-15A-2 with drop tanks and ablative coating parked on the NASA ramp in front of the XB-70A. Noteworthy these aircraft represent...
The XB-70 Valkyrie was the world's largest experimental aircraft and was used to collect in-flight information for use in the design of future supersonic aircraft, military and civilian The futuristic XB-70A Valkyrie was originally conceived in the 1950s as a high-altitude, nuclear strike bomber that could fly at Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) - any potential enemy would...
Originally designed as a Mach 3 bomber, the XB-70A Valkyrie never went into production and instead was used for flight research The interesting image in this post is is a close-up photo of an XB-70A taken from a chase plane. The XB-70 had a movable windshield and ramp. These were raised during supersonic flight to reduce drag. When the pilot was...
