North American B-70




My dad has an old black and white photo of this somewhere. I need to find it!

I believe that was the Valkerie. They only built two.

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Stan

"Get off my lawn."

One got wiped out during a photo shoot of General Electric powered aircraft in formation. Opinions vary as to exactly what happened even though much of it is on film.

I WELL remember it! I seen it flying just before it crashed in 1966. I was flying a 1946 8A luscombe with no radio or starter. I was on my first cross country trip to qualify for my license. My route was from san fernando to quartz hill, landed and got my log book signed. Took off for helendale than on to phelan and back to san fernando. I had taken off from quartz hill (no longer a airport), headed east for helendale, at that time a old abanded army air force strip. I was green and got a lot of elevation. I seen the B-70 fly a huge circle around me with the lear?, on its tail. I lost it and tuned into my task. That day or the next morning I heard or read of the crash!
I know this sounds like BS, if challanged I will post a copy of that flight out of my 50 year old log book. I wish I had kept my eyes on those planes!

Don't doubt your report. After all there were two of them up until one crashed. The other is in a museum.

It was a beautiful aircraft, built along the lines of the old SuperSonic Transport (SST). The SST was the project that just about shut Boeing down in 1968 or so.

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Even older, even crankier....

Around 1967 lockheed had their version of the SST mockup in a hanger in burbank. I spent a lot of hours guarding that thing. Of course they didnt get the contract. I should look through my stuff and see if I can find a picture of it.

I found this on the net. As I recall the nose was always dropped down on the scale mockup.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Lockheed L-2000 SST - Blogs - Airlinebuzz - Commercial Aviation and Beyond! ™

Dang, I'd love to sip a few cool ones with you and listen to your experiences..............Someday.........Got my Wheeler Feral. Going Boo and moose hunting Sunday afternoon for a few days.............

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Go big or stay home

Thanks, but really I always thought my life a little boreing. There was a lot of things I tried to do but was rejected by cause of high BP and overweight. I probley have flunked more physicals trying to get in the military or various LE jobs than I can remember.
I married late in life the first time so that left me a lot of oppurtunity to get in trouble the first half my life.
Truth is I got myself into a lot of situations out of stupidity and recklessness and Gods grace got me out of them, no thanks to me.
Good luck with that hunting. Its pointless for me to go as theresa wont eat anything that doesnt come from the butcher shop. Ex wife was that way too.

I remember the day of the crash (I was nine) and the sense of loss, then seeing the photos in LIFE magazine brought it all home. One of the chase pilots shadowing the XB-70 (Joe White, IIRC) apparently saw something odd, moved a little closer for a better look, and may have gotten caught up in the jetwash or the wake of the big sucker. His jet cartwheeled across the top rear of the Valkyrie, taking out both stabilizers, and both aircraft went down. What a sad waste of men and machines.

We have one (I hope still) in the museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

Bummer when your engine quits in flight........

There are a couple of youtube videos of it in flight.
XB-70 Valkyrie - The Mach 3 bomber - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLxtr...eature=related

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" I said, good DAY! "

Here is a video that explains how the crash happened:

XB-70 Valkyrie Mid-air collision June 8, 1966 - YouTube

It's still there. The one at the Air Force Museum is the only XB-70 left in existence. One of my favorites, I alway try to see it when I visit the museum. I believe the GE engine used in the XB-70's sixpack ( six engines side by side ) were only used on that aircraft, but I may be mistaken on that.
I was lucky that I was able to see the last XB-70 making it's last flight. We were in class at the the Clark County Joint Vocational School in Springfield Ohio when it flew past with a fighter escort on it's wat to Wright Pat to be placed in the museum. This would have been between 1968 and 1970.

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

I was working for a defence contractor at the time......We got a lot of inside dope on the AC.....It drove the ruskies nuts and they cobbled the Mig 25 together in an attempt to counter the potential treat to their paranoid country.....The xb70 had little or no stealth in it's design and would have been a big target.......At high sonic and sonic speeds it had poor range....

I think one reason this jet was cancelled was the A-12 (SR-71).

The A-12 was on the drawing boards in the late 50's. Amazing what engineers did with slide rules and no computers.

When I saw the title of this thread, the XB-70 was the first aircraft that came to my mind.

I don't recall it at the time of it's development, but I've always enjoyed seeing it when I've visited the Wright-Patterson museum. BTW, for any of you military aircraft enthusiasts, if you haven't yet been to Wright-Pat museum...you really must go!

Tim

I think it got cancelled because it cost a fortune to build a supersonic bomber. Compared to the cost of a satellite guided (cruise or other) missile. A non-stealth supersonic bomber could be taken out with a relatively cheap missile. So, though it was groundbreaking, I think the technology just took development in a different direction.

Neat plane though.

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But then, what do I know?

I thought I would open this thread and see a picture of Joe Namath

I do like looking at jets from the Korean War era.


Nice thread and thanks for starting it, we should see some nice pictures from the experts.

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Doesn't hasta call me Johnson

Yep, and I remember a fictional story in IIRC "Boy's Life" called Flight of the Valkyrie about a test flight in which the aircraft commander had to put the wingtips in the down position and drag them in the dirt to help stop the aircraft. I seem to remember they ended up landing on a highway or something. Don't know if that could actually be done but hey, the story was fiction.

CW

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μολὼν λαβέ

I remember seeing pictures of my favorite airplane being a chase plane for the Valkyrie.

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

unrealaircraft.com

The Soviets went nuts over the XB-70. Remember that "stealth" wasn't really viable at that time. Speed and altitude were key to survival. The SR-71 did have a lower profile but still was visible to standard radar.

I've seen the XB-70 at the Air and Space Museum at Wright-Patterson and was awed by it's size. You can walk underneath the A/C and can't touch the bottom of the fuselage.

If any of you visit Wright-Pat please stop by the memorial of the Heroes and give a thanks to those who gave all for their country. My uncle Jack Mathis is mentioned there. A Congressional MOH recipient from WW2(posthumous). We donated his medal to the museum. http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part2/05_mathis.html

Hobie

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Laissez les bons temps roulez!

I had forgot all about the particular aircraft.

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Lt. Dan, what R U doing here?

That video explaining the XB-70 crash was more generous to the F104 jockey than other versions.

Kanewpadle, I had never heard about the A-12. You probley are right. When I started lockheed in 1965 we had the YF-12 that was the forerunner to the SR-71. It looked the same but was scaled down to about 2/3ds size. I think I can tell this one now. About 1975 when I was a guard at lockheed. I was on a day off but called a close friend that was my counterpart at work. While I was talking to him he got a call from the tower along with the pilot of a SR-71 telling him to open the fly way gate. The pilot or rather probley the backseat radioman was saying they were over salt lake and lost a engine. We will be landing plant 42 in 14 minutes! Salt lake is 540 miles from plant 42 palmdale! I timed it. I ran out of my house and here it come right on time!

Satellite technology was nowhere close enough to be a factor when the B-70 and the SR-71 were initially built. And yes the SR-71 could be seen on radar. But it was a much smaller signature. The SR was the first stealth aircraft.

North American built some great planes. But their engineering and innovation wasn't as good as Lockheed at the time.

When I was a kid in the 70's, a relative visited the nearby USAF Museum at WPAFB and brought me a poster with this plane on it. It hung on my wall for a few years.

The XB-70 sat outside at the museum for a long time. After the museum added a new wing, there was a significant refurbishment effort that restored the aircraft to show quality, and it was moved inside. The last time I visited (which was at least 10 years ago) the XB-70 was next to an SR-71 and not far from an F-117A. Think about being able to simply pivot while standing and see all three of those!

When you honestly think about it...before computers,CAD and all the gee whiz techno of today, we built some of the most fearsome aircraft in history.

As a certified Air Force brat I got to see up close and personal some of the most wonderful aircraft ever built in history. A memory that will never ever fade.

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Take your time..quickly.

Ahhhh, the B-58 Hustler. I too remember seeing one as a kid. I was an Air Force brat too!

This was another plane that was ahead of it's time.

Not to brag, ok I'll brag.

I got a ride in one of these. He let me fly it too!

In 1990 when the gulf war broke out I was assigned to be one of the guards to guard lockheeds F-22 at edwards AFB durring the fly offs. The northrup F-23 was lockheeds compitition. The F-23 hanger was only about 75 yards away. There was commadree between both companys pilots. Seems I read we picked up northrup`s test pilot when they lost. Forgot his name. Those guys were all laid back and cool as a cucumber.
I got to watch many flights of both durring the fly off. Dave fergison was our pilot that flew the F-22 on its maiden flight. I was there also for its 2nd flight with tom morganfield the pilot. Tom cracked us up. He put on a ape suit head, just like lees avitar. Seeing him taxi that F-22 wearing the ape head was a blast! Some one must have a picture somewhere of him wearing it. I would like one.
I was also there when dave fergeson and jack woodman flew the L 10-11 on its test flight. I dont think there is any of them still flying that I know of. We lost one when a arab decided to cook a piece of goat over a coleman stove in the aisle. The plane was full of arabs flying for their pilgrimage to mecca. The plane was waiting to taxi and caught fire. I dont think anyone got killed.
We had another that was built for the king I think of saudia. I got up in that one. It had a circle bed that the pujabs head always faced east as the plane turned like a compass needle! It had a seperate room or section for his kids and their nanny. The bath faucets were gold!
Another interesting thing I seen was we had F-104s being referbished at the same time that belonged both to isreal and whatever arab country they were fighting at the time. Both so called enemy pilots were there at the same time testing or getting their planes! Their was no trouble I knew of between them!
We always had C-5A`s, P-3s, U-2s, TR-2`s, SR-71`s, C-140s, F-117s around to look at. A catering truck used to sit at the end of the runway that bordered sierra highway to sell refreshments to people that were always pulled over to watch. Somehow they always knew when something nice was comeing in or takeing off. Douglass, Rockwell and northrup were also on the field so there was always something to see.
The columbia was also built when I was there. I was at edwards and saw it make its landing in 1981.
I also enjoyed seeing the B-1 and B-2`s fly. The most impressive to me was the B-2. It and the SR-71 were about a toss up to watch.

I used to see B58s nearly every day - and more to the point, hear them. They were ear-splitters. They sometimes flew over my back yard on their approach to Bunker Hill and they were terrifying to us little kids. They were so loud they actually caused ear pain (and probably hearing damage) and even back then the local doctors warned all the the mothers to get us kids indoors when they were flying over our neighborhood - but of course none of us did that. We would just stand around with our hands over our ears, some of the little fellows screaming and crying. It was not uncommon for them to cause glass damage. Lots of adults seemed to admire them, but I remember I just despised them. If it was possible for a young boy to hate something, I hated B58s.

I was employed at Lockheed Martin for 33 years and got to see a lot of interesting stuff up close....Upon retirement I was required to sigh a statement that said keep your mouth shut or else, so I won't say too much.........................................During the 67 Israeli/Arab conflict SR 71s and TR 2s did photo recon.......Two Mig 25s were clocked on Israeli radar at 3200 mph and couldn't get close to the 71s........NKorea routinely fired SAMs at SR 71s and the closest detonated 9 miles behind one.....The pilot simply floored the throttle and whistled away unharmed...........The stories go on and on.

Five minutes with some basic data will show that shooting down a 3000mph airplane at 70k ft or more is not an easy task. It took several salvos of missiles to bring down Gary Powers in his hotrodded glider.

I find it intriguing that the drive seems to be for hypersonic platforms, be they weapons or able to carry men. It strikes me that if the physics problem of skin heating has been fixed well enough to go ahead with such projects, why not stretch the envelope a little less and build some Mach 4 fighters and bombers at much less cost.

Having worked on SR's and U-2s, I heard some of the same stories.

There are always rumors in the defence industry of strange things.....The SR 71 was retired reputedly because satellite technology was so good and much cheaper than maintaining the 71s.....The in house rumors were of a follow up to the 71....

I suspect that some where there is one or more TAVs (trans atmospheric vehicles)...Take off, leave the atmosphere, conduct a mission, and land back at it's base........There have been numerous sightings of odd contrails above the California coast.

Who knows what is next.........I did not realize that the large black composite things we made would go on the F117.

I think satelittes and the cost of flying the SR were the major factors.

Everytime it flew, the cost was at least 0ne million!

Kanewpadle....Did you ever hear about the mystery hanger on Guam?

Nope. Never did.

Did you just write "... at much less cost" when talking about building government aircraft? Haaaahahahahahaha. I needed a good laugh and I thank you kindly for this one.

Well, the Blackbird was mighy cool, but satellites were certainly also a factor at the time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)

I read somewhere that the SR-71 was initially the RS-71 but that LBJ got it backwards and everyone decided to just go with the flow rather than correct the Prez.

True. But did they enough satellites? No.

I see that this thread has wandered from the Valkyrie to the Black Bird, but did you all know that the Valk was slated to be powered by a nuclear reactor? The principle was to spin the GE turbines with gas superheated in the reactor core. The difficult part was to keep the crew from getting irradiated in the process.... My dad was a Turbine Engineer for Generous Electric at the time and I remember him talking about it...

Not long ago there was a Discovery show about nuclear powered flight and they discussed something called Project Pluto, a nuke powered supersonic ramjet. It was tested in the Nevada Test Site and the scary thing is that it actually worked. As this was meant to power a Mach 3 low altitude cruise missile, crew shielding was not an issue.

there was a B-36 that had a nuclear reactor on board but it was not used for propulsion and was for testing only. the idea wasn't very practical considering the amount of shielding required to protect the air crew and ground crew.

We were at Plattsburgh AFB from 1957 to 1965. The old man was the deputy wing commander of the 380th Bombardment Wing.

Good times growing up there and some sadness too, with a couple of fatal accidents the wing suffered during those years.

Almost as good as watching the B-58 take off was the B-47 JATO take offs!

The 47's engines didn't spool up quite fast enough so the JATO setup did the trick...

Alcohol/water injection was added to help thrust of the GE-47 turbojets also.

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Take your time..quickly.

Be on the road at the north end of the runway on your Schwinn when that went over your head. Or be in the same place when when the B-52 squadron did a training scramble rolling three down the runway at the same time. May be part of the reason I still have tinnitus 40 some years later.

Huh ??????? Whattdasay?????



I used to lay in the grass off the middle marker(it was just outside the boundary fence) and they would be climbing out under full power....what a rush!

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Take your time..quickly.