XB-70 Valkyrie - Mach 3 Nuclear Bomber
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
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As part of a plan to build a strategic bomber for deep penetration and nuclear bombing runs during the Cold War, North American Aviation created a stunningly futuristic prototype for its time: the XB-70 Valkyrie. Designed for the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command in the 1950s, the Valkyrie was capable of achieving Mach 3 while flying at an astonishing 70,000 feet.
The Air Force expected its new aircraft to be immune to jet interceptors. The Valkyrie's speed would require constant switching between radar stations, making it nearly impossible to track. Nevertheless, the project would eventually come under pressure due to the Soviets' development of anti-aircraft missiles that negated the bomber's height and speed advantages. The aircraft's designers also failed to foresee the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach even higher speeds and altitudes unparalleled for nuclear delivery. The XB-70 would become a beautiful but unnecessary piece of aviation technology, and its fate would be sealed with after a tragic accident involving the XB-70's second prototype...
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Please don´t talk that fast, not evertbody are native english spoken.......
That MagellanTV promo was among the smoothest segue ever seen on TH-cam. Bravo.
Im not compensated for this or anything but i just signed up for Magellan TV using your link, downloaded the app and love it. Commerical free documentaries. 10/10 strongly recommend
Any time I see a video that has 10 percent of its runtime taken up by an ad, it makes me want to check it out even less. Couple this with the two ads that are already on this video (for those without TH-cam Premium) and suddenly you’re at 30 percent or more of the total video. I understand that content creators make content to make money. Stick this crap at the end, though. Placing it in the beginning or middle of videos just means I’m going to scrub past it, whereas if it were at the end of the video there would be a bigger chance of me just letting it play out to the next video.
Amazing to see in real life
Even by today's standards, it is still a ”futuristic” looking aircraft.
Even by today's standards even the performance is futuristic, in a way. We only have one other manned aircraft with similar specs, and it's a marvel.
@@jonslg240
What became the SR-71 Blackbird was designed at the same time as the B-70. It started off as being the B-70s' fighter escort. Hence the similar performance envelope.
With today's engines, and composite components, electronics,you would have to wear a pressurized space suit to fly it.
@@awclark3 Yeah, but just imagine what a world beating aircraft that would be. Great looks and unbeatable performance, it would probably have the range to go anywhere in the world and the flight ceiling to beat missiles, by the time they got there it would be hundreds of miles away. ;D
@Van Guard sounds like a bunch of nerd talk.
6:46 For the record, there is no F48 Phantom. It is the F4 Phantom. I suspect that the narrator was reading a script and perhaps it said F4B, which could look a bit like a 48.
F-4A perhaps?
I didnt care for "F-onehundredandfour" either
Ironbomb Hey at least it wasn’t eff one hundred forty eight.
@@fleafrier1 right on man🤣👍
@@catjudo1 No, it was an F-4B. I have also never heard anyone say, "F one hundred and four", even in the military they say, "F one oh four".
I spent a lot of time at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum when I was little. Everybody liked the SR-71, and that was kept inside. They used to just let the YF-12 and XB-70 sit outside in the rain. But they had the J58 and YJ93 engines inside where you could play with them. And an Me-262 engine. I usually just stared at the engines while my family wandered around the museum... Except for the XB-70.
It's just beautiful. It's worth going to Dayton just to stand under it. And the Wright Brothers plane is there, too, in a different museum. The USAF museum also has a couple Keyhole satellites now. It's better than the DC Smithsonian as far as aircraft. Hangar 18 is also at Wright-Patterson. If you go to the museum, make sure you sign up for the bus ride to the Annex -- it takes you to Hanger 18, where they have many retired Air Force Ones and experimental planes.
The SR-71 and XB-70 will always be the coolest airplanes ever made. But the SR-71 is silly.
The SR-71 was insanely expensive to maintain. To keep the fuel from igniting in the tanks at high temperatures they invented JP-7 fuel with such high octane that it took explosives to start the engines - and they needed a bomb squad to refill the starter fluid (which exploded when exposed to oxygen). The engines dynamically reconfigured themselves and needed to balance the shockwave in the intake. If things weren't perfect the engine stalled with a dramatic bang, and after you shit your pants you needed to restart it ... if you had enough explosive starter juice left.
The XB-70 was much more rational. It used normal JP-6 fuel and they pressurized it with nitrogen to make sure it wouldn't ignite in the tanks at high temperature. And the engines were normal except that they feathered the compressor blades to reduce drag. Google "variable stator compressor patent" to see the XB-70s simple solution which makes a lot of the SR-71's engineering look ridiculous.
The SR-71 went Mach 3.2 and carried a camera. The XB-70 went Mach 3.1 and carried 50,000 lbs. of bombs.
Raquel Foster First off, jet fuel does not have an ‘octane rating,’ it is a Cetane rating. The ‘explosive’, you incorrectly stated, is a pyrophoric catalyst called TEB, short for Tri-Ethyl Borane. During the start cycle of the J-58 engine,when the fuel selector lever is moved from shut-off to start/ground idle, a squirt of TEB is injected into the combustor, igniting the fuel chemically instead of electrically. The JP-7 had a very high vapor pressure due to the fact that the aircraft operated at extreme altitudes and extreme temperatures. The fuel system of the aircraft was used as a thermal heat sink and used to cool various aircraft systems. The “shit your pants” scenario with the J-58 was terrifyingly referred to as an ‘unstart.’ An unstart was not uncommon at higher Mach numbers and was typically caused by a hiccup in the positioning of the aero-spike at the front of the inlet. Typically the Mach scheduling box would reset the spikes, however, due to the extreme spacing of the engines, a fatal yaw into the engine that had lost thrust led to several airframes being lost due to excessive aerodynamic loading on the airframe. Pilots were typically trained in this scenario by cutting the throttles to idle in less than a second, or else. The VGV’s, variable guide vanes, are small, movable airfoils with assist in positioning the airflow relative to the blades on the compressor rotor. Being that the J-58’s are dual cycle engines, they would begin the transition from straight turbojet thrust to ramjet thrust starting at about Mach 2.4. The inlet spikes would capture the shock wave, direct it into the bypass, and the engine would effectively become a ramjet. The VGV’s would schedule to their lowest airflow setting further diverting more air into the compressor bypass. The J-58 is one of the only engines I have worked on that has a set of VGV’s set in front of the first stage compressor rotor. The shock wave created at high Mach flight would become the compressor and the air would dump directly into the afterburner assembly through six huge bypass ducts, where it would be mixed with raw fuel and ignited. After that is was off to the races. There was other equipment associated with the exhaust nozzle that also enhanced thrust production and efficiency of the engine.
Raquel Foster k
@J. Mucka Fignotti You sound like a delightful person! You're so full of joy!
It looks like you're trying to correct me about the definition of "explosive"? Are you a chemical engineer and you're really sensitive about that? Please educate me, sir! Can an igniter which explodes in the presence of oxygen not be called an explosive? I had no idea! But as they say, you do learn something new every day. Bless you!
And you're quite displeased with my use of the word "octane"! Do you understand what octane rating means? I'm not sure I do, but I'm thinking high octane means it doesn't explode as easy. The primary property of the fuel of the SR-71 is that it was very difficult to ignite - to keep it from spontaneously igniting at very high operating temperatures. Kinda like the primary property of high-octane gasoline is that it is more difficult to ignite - to keep high-compression engines from experiencing detonation before the spark. Did you not understand the analogy?
I apologize for not being verbose enough! I can tell you enjoy educating people on the Internet, so ... I await your thoughtful response!
Raquel Foster. So sorry Rachel, I did not mean to offend, just to educate. No, it cannot be called an explosive as there is a difference between deflagration of an explosion and rapid oxidation due to chemical reaction. TEB is a catalyst which promotes the rapid ignition of the fuel known as JP-7. The vapor point is so high with JP-7 that electrical ignition is impossible, even at 60,000+ volts of a typical jet engine ignition system. The TEB causes a spontaneous ignition of the fuel which is reliable and repeatable. As long as you have enough TEB you can restart the engine. I believe, if I remember correctly, the TEB canister has enough for about seven starts per engine. I am not ‘displeased’ with your use of the word octane, it’s the incorrect application to the type of fuel. Octane only applies to fuels which are an aromatic, jet fuel is refined diesel oil and the correct way to define its latent heat capacity is by using the term Cetane, which only applies to oil based fuels. Aromatic fuels have low vapor pressures, meaning they go from a liquid form to a gas quite easily, jet fuels have very high vapor pressures and are not easily converted to a vapor. This is one of the reasons why the fuel nozzle technology in a modern jet engine is a very highly guarded technology. Good fuel atomization=good combustion efficiency and range.
@@Mitchell527 The XB-70's data has been public domain for many years.
Our entire grade school was out on the frozen lawn on that brilliant sunny day outside Dayton, Ohio when the XB-70 flew over on its final flight to the Air Force Museum in Feb. 1969.
Thats awesome, ive been to Dayton to see that plane many times.
So cool your school did that. Today some parent would complain that it's "inappropriate"
Thanks for sharing. That would have been amazing and I'm glad you could appreciate it. I bet most of your class doesn't even remember it.
One of the XB-70's came to Carswell Airforce Base in Ft Worth for the airshow in 1965. The local radio stations covered its approach minute by minute. My school was directly under the flight path for landing and takeoff and when the B-70 came over our teacher let us go to the windows to watch. We were used to seeing low-flying B-52s, tankers, Hustlers and the F-111 swing-wing that was being developed at the time. None could compare to the B-70. It looked like a big, white dragon. A couple of days later when it was going back to California, again the radio stations tracked the takeoff. This time I was at my folks' hobby shop in a strip mall, again right under the flight path People came out of the businesses into the parking lots to see it come over. It was really low, the six engines in the back roaring, just an awesome sight and very loud. It passed over twice and the headed west. I watched it until it was just a bright speck above the horizon. Didn't hear until years later that one of them had crashed. The XB-70 was the most beautiful, charismatic plane ever built.
You just happened to be outside, or they announced it?
This machine is the pinnacle of aviation insanity... Absolutely incredible
While I don't disagree, we should take into account how stupidly wonderful the A-10 warthog, B-1 Lancer, and AC-130 gunship are.
Not only mach 3+ , but the B-70 also was the heaviest aircraft that had ever flown at that time. 500k + lbs
SR-71 and A-12 >: |
I think that "award" goes to the X-15. That beauty flew to 354,200 ft on one flight and on another flew to a speed of 4,520mph. The X-15 saw 199 flights compared to the 83 of the XB-70. The X-15 epitomized what "balls to the wall" means.
@@robinseibel7540 rocket vs jet . Can’t exactly compare a plane that can take off and land under its own power and a rocket ship that you get carried up and let go then cost down gliding after the fuel runs out.
The host of the Dark series watched Modern Marvels when he was younger, like most of us viewers.
Wish he remembered more of what he saw.
And perhaps some of the Dogfight episodes
Lol I wish the history channel was the same as it was back then
@@YRNBugatti same with Discovery channel and TLC
@Fuert Neigt dont watch it then?
I actually saw one flying over Arkansas near the Texas border when I was a kid.
Although I knew if the xb70, a flying saucer wouldn't have shocked me more.
@Galileo7of9 hell I was a kid. I remember the plane, not the date.
If you really have the need to fact check people, the dems and Republicans are both hiring
I know I looked, Arkansas near the Texas border wasnt on the list.... again Biden is hiring people to find something wrong with people's wirds..
Galileo7of9 and where is YOUR proof
Galileo7of9 personally I think he saw it, what else could he have seen
John Bender it’s amazing that you saw this insane plane in action dude
The Valkyrie is still today the most stunningly beautiful bomber of all time IMO. Second to none.
Better looking than the lancer?really
@bruh Agree with you
This (along with Concorde) has got to be one of the most beautiful aircraft ever flown, such a pity it was never put into production.
Tsr2 as well
Seriously, it's a shame that the CF-105 Arrow and TSR-2 never made it, but with the Valkyrie, as awesome as it was, boy oh boy was it insanely impractical in hindsight!
I live an hour away from Wright Pat and I've been there and seen prototype #1 in person...its been a fascination of mine since the 1970's.
We live right by it! Its a beautiful place and i too have seen prototype #1, its incredible
And no wonder, Buckeye Man -- it's a beautiful piece of machinery! And it looks like it's doing Mach 3+ sitting in the hangar!
I've always loved the shape of the XB-70 Valkyrie. Menacing and beautiful at the same time. Thanks for sharing. :)
Those wheels burning upon landing was some sight, I kept thinking the parachutes would catch fire too
I like the footage at 6:45 showing the paint flaking off from frequent trips through mach speeds. Never saw this before.
The original documentary was a little more revealing.
@@nonamesplease6288 this was on ship1 and one of the reasons it was never flown above mach 3. There were concerns over what had caused the paint to start chipping and they thought ut was due to structural rippling
The XB-70's ability to fold its' wingtips down had nothing to do with directional stability: the folding wingtips were there to increase lift at high Mach numbers by using a "waverider" technique, i.e. using the supersonic shockwave of the aircraft for lift.
Yes, the term is "compression lift".
I've come to expect such inaccuracies from this channel. Poor research coupled with limited understanding of the subject matter.
@@gort8203 It's a damn shame they always cover such interesting topics. The obvious errors are just jarring.
Yes but! Having the wingtips in the down position could have gave enough directional stability to give them time to get out safely. Sad.
@Eff yore Feelings Its scary the way actual facts are unable to compete against the vast volume of misinformation being peddled. Sometimes I try to point out an error in a comment, and I get vilified because I didn't watch another inaccurate YT video from which the commenter got his misinformation. The misinformation spreads farther than the truth.
I go visit her in Dayton every other year or so. Built with pencil paper and slide rules. Incredible
Fun fact:
The Russians found out about the XB-70, so they needed an interceptor that was capable of catching it, thus the MiG-25 was born.
When the Americans found out about the MiG-25, they needed a new interceptor as well, so the F-15 Eagle was born.
the mig 25 was developed to shoot down the SR-71
f15 can dream of catching the foxbat
@@alexjakobsson1171 F15s have killed Foxbats.
theaviationgeekclub.com/eagle-vs-foxbat-the-mig-25-kills-scored-by-israeli-f-15s/
@@budwyzer77 thats shows clever use of tactics from israeli, but in the end u can read last 25 e just straight outrunned f15 they could not catch up to it.
Didn't the first MiG-25 fly in March of 1964? by then, The B-70 was cancelled as a weapons platform and was just being used for research. The B-70 was succeeded by research programs like SLAB and AMSA, which considered subsonic, low altitude penetration of enemy airspace. The MiG-25 and B-70 connection sounds tenuous.
Yet, another one of the greatest planes never adopted.
Tje XB-70 is impressive in person. I've seen it at Wright Patterson AFB museum. It looks fast just sitting still.
One of the coolest looking planes ever made...
2:32 Wing folding was to create compression lift.
Yes, the XB-70, the most beautiful aircraft ever designed ( imho ) surfed on her own shockwave when the wing tips were lowered. Completely amazing even to this day....
you are a boss
In 2007, my brothers and I went to the Indy 500, something we'd always wanted to do. Of course, we ended up at Wright-Pat to see the XB-70. My God, what a beast!
If you are interested in airplanes, the Wright-Patterson AFB Museum MUST be on your bucket list. I saw the XB-70 there in the early 80s, when it was still parked outside. Unforgettable.
four aircraft I've always thought got the wrong end of the stick. ah56, xf5u, yf23 and the xb70. marvelous aircraft brought to an improper end. thinking outside the box done right
apparently the Yf-23 was better then the F-22 but congress chose the F-22 because how it looked. At least that's what i heard
@@spacedoutchimp4454 I would have loved to have seen the YF-23 painted up like a black widow if that story is true.
The AH-56 looked amazing, but I haven't seen any information about how practical or how costly it would have been. The XF5U first flew in 1943, which meant it would have entered service when the US Navy was transitioning to jets, and would have had a short life anyway. The B-70, as a bomber, probably wouldn't have added much to strategic defense, and would have been extremely costly. It was cancelled as a weapons system in 1961, yet managed to get 2 as completed and keep flying until 1969. I'd say that it got anything other than the "short end of the stick"
The XB-70 was one of my favorite airplanes when I was a kid. Thanks for profiling it.
Thank you for this. I saw this at the Dayton AF base in Ohio and couldn't find many videos of it flying. I cant imagine how loud or how massive it really is.
60 years later it still looks like something from the future. One of the most beautiful planes ever.
I've seen this in the museum it's beautiful up close
Ever since I was a kid in the 80s I have thought this to be one of the most beautiful and incredible planes to ever exist.
All that I have learned about aviation since then has only confirmed what I thought as a child.
I absolutely love th XB-70 Valkyrie. Its super futuristic shape, even for today's standards always gets me. Such a gorgeous lady!!
Thank you very much for being a part of these "Dark" touching m TH-cam channels. History like this needs to be remembered.
F-4 B, not F-48 phantom...
Yes also the other plane is a F- "one oh four", not a F- "onehundredfour"
Also he said “the wings swept back at 65%” when its degrees
hey guys if thats so annoying for you, do the video yourself instead of pointing shit like that
@@leon-ks9yn exactly such small issues they're just nitpicking
@@DMC_Motorsports ikr like stop hating on everything small mistake
That background music is something else.... What the chills I say
The channel keeps on improving. Thanks for these history cameos. Bite sized and super cool.
I'm in awe at how good all of the Dark- channels are.
Thanks for all of the great content.
Stunning bird. Just imagine what occupies the skies today.
Nothing like this is in the sky today
The b-1 is kinda similar
LOVE this plane. I could stare at the one at the Air Force museum for hours easily!
"An F-48 Phantom" hmm...thats something new. Just kidding, superb video as always
F-4B
Chad Varnell sorry?
@@burazburi I believe the script said F-4B, but it was read as F-48.
Wow, I just commented on this. And now I see your post.
@@kenttheboomer721 It's been commented a few times...it happens!
Magnificent aircraft and a fitting tribute. I regret that I never saw one fly. Thank you for sharing, sir
8:30 Are we not going to discuss those wheels being on fire????
Ha! No kidding. During one of the tests, upon landing the brakes locked up, and the pilots were not even aware of it until a chase place casually informed them that their gear was on fire.
They must have been made by "Firestone" I wonder if Hot wheels ever made a diecast of this plane?
There were issues with the anti-skid brakes. I met a guy on that particular program.
A pinched wire in a junction box caused the nose gear door to close just as the gear was folding up. It bent the nose gear door and blew out a tire. The pilots used a paperclip to jumper two terminals on a relay in the cabin to activate hydraulics to get the nose gear down. Somehow the original short circuit also caused the anti skid system to lock the brakes.
Incredible plane... it looks like something out of Thunderbirds.. Thanks👍🇳🇿
Dark Skies needs to learn why the wings folded down....
pugslt1 why?
@@My_Alchemical_Romance To give a hug
@@My_Alchemical_Romance compression lift
Seeing it in person is a truly awe-inspiring moment. You can't even begin to fathom how big it is.
Correction. It wasn't the fault of the B-70, it was Walker and him doing an idiot move near it, getting caught in the wingtip vortex.
And people I know who were in the program told me..a "party" the night before didn't help, if you get my drift.
Regardless of your short-sightedness, vortices are still not visible to the naked eye w/o visual aids. To be fair to Leut. Walker, nobody REALLY knew how dangerous wingtip-vortices could be. We do, NOW...
Also, Luet. Walker was officially given orders to fly really close to the XB-70 for a photo-op. He probs would've instinctually wanted to be further away...
@@guardsmanom134 Simple. No other pilot even tried that, and none of the other pilot even attempted that. What was he's trying to do? Touch the wingtip? Paid with his life, the co-pilot's life, and millions of dollars in an aircraft.
Don't blame the B-70 for a dick move.
@@alphakky I don't, dumbass. I blame physics! Don't blame a smaller aircraft for it's inability to wrestle with an aircraft 14 times it's size, is all I'm saying. And not pilot ever, will hot-dog that close to an x-craft. Go ahead, ASK AN ACTUAL FIGHTER-PILOT. Just because the craft was smaller and lighter, Luet. Walker could have never pulled away in time, or for that matter, at all. His craft was doomed(and so was the Valkyrie) the moment "officials" wanted to do a photo-op. Charles Yeager would have found it impossible to pull out of that wingtip-tornado! Yeah, that's x-15-fastest-man-alive-"Chuck" Yeager, for measure, who said that exact same in an interview-I got to see reruns in docs about the XB-70.
Excellent narrative, as always!
When I went through the Air Force flying safety officer program at Norton AFB I happened to find the movie that documented the innovations that were done for the XB-70 program like the honey comb brazed SS shell or so much more. The title was "The Speed Of Heat" many of these discoveries were implemented in the US SST design, Concorde and the Russian "Concordski".
Cheer,
Steve
@Galileo7of9 very true. There was a lot of design work done and the technologies listed were planned in that work. The movie is excellent. Have a great day.
Hope the narrator could take it a bit slow. His pace of speech is so fast that some parts sound like murmurs.
Military way baby
He talks fast, hoping you won't notice all the mistakes and anachronisms he makes.
@@odyseuszkoskiniotis6266 I dont have a problem with the speed itself. If the narrator is able to maintain the speed of speech without any blurrings in pronunciation and tone which sounds like he is being chased by someone, that speed would be an advantage over other narrators who read slowly.
You can slow the playback speed to .75 and it's perfect.
@@bodombeastmode Agreed. Problem solved
One of the most amazing aircraft ever. I've always been fascinated with the XB-70 program.
Keep it up, Dark!
I remember seeing the XB-70 at USAF Museum when I was a freshman in High School with my AFJROTC Squadron. The plane was just as impressive in person as it was in pictures. The Valkryie and the Blackbird are my favorite planes. I don't think their styling will ever look old.
Some mistakes in this one
What're the mistakes?
F-48 phantom
There are mistakes in *every* one of his productions. Sloppy production work, which is unfortunate. Still mostly enjoyable though, just don’t derive any information from these videos without fact-checking them elsewhere first.
@@bennylofgren3208 Just speak fast with bad articulation and hope that nobody notice it.
@@sparqqling If you us the settings and slow it down to 75% the narration is more tolerable.
My grandpa worked on this awesome plane. He was a systems engineer at North American in Downey, CA. He worked there through its change to Rockwell and acquisition by Boeing.
She was too beautiful for this world.
The wing sections folding down weren’t for stability. They were for speed and efficiency. Dropping the wingtips like that at Supersonic speeds created a specific aerodynamic effect by which the plane was able to ride or surf atop its own shockwave instead of being dragged by it. It allowed much faster and longer sustained supersonic flight with remarkably good fuel efficiency.
I knew that I had heard that somewhere else! Thanks for the confirmation.
Subsequent research found that Joe Walker's F-104 was sucked towards the XB-70. When he was asked to move a little closer in the formation. To get the perfect picture for General Electric. All of the planes in the formation were powered by GE engines. Because the air inlets were too small for the air demand. Those 6 engines sucked in a massive amount of air. Unfortunately the fateful flight was not properly authorized by command staff. Which made the tragedy even more of a problem for the Air Force.
Joe Walker the F-104 pilot, lived in Quartz Hill, CA. Where Joe Walker Middle School is named in his honor.
Imagine all of the military training someone goes through only to die as a result of an unnecessary photo shoot :(
Woop, woop! Corporate Advertising!
I can think of worse ways to die too. A lot of them actually.
There was a HUGE scandal over it. As someone pointed out, to lose both the planes and servicemen’s lives for a corporate marketing brochure was shockingly disgraceful.
@@andrewtaylor940 Don't blame it all on civilian corporations. Even the military understands the importance of public relations! Taxes fund their endeavors, after all.
Beezlie727 The scandal was more that the military was doing the dangerous photo op at the behest of and purely for the marketing purposes of a military contractor. There was plenty of scandal to go around.
I have seen the XB-70. It’s in a hangar at WPAFB Air Museum. It is HUGE. They actually had planes on display under it.
It’s one of the most beautiful planes I’ve ever seen.
Now militaries want these planes to carry hypersonic nuclear missiles. We can see a comeback.
They have nukes that are capable of flying non stop at Mach speeds now
@@longrodjohnson6399 that can be intercepted at peak altitude or at launch. That's why countries are developing hypersonic missiles with steering capabilities, and launching them from a supersonic plane, makes them go directly to target, without having to go to space. Much faster than nukes.
When they say it's the largest plane to achieve supersonic flight, they're selling it short. Granted, I was 16 when I saw it...but it's a behemoth. Gorgeous, but massive. The wheels were taller than I was (and I wasn't a short kid). I didn't see a B-52 up close until almost a decade later...and by comparison, the B-52 was unimpressive in size (even though it dwarfed everything around it).
Seeing this bird out on the tarmac at Wright-Patterson (they hadn't yet moved it into a hangar when I visited) was awe-inspiring, just for the sheer fact that something that large made it into the air. The fact that it was (and still is) among the fastest aircraft ever flown just compounded the effect.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but "the largest of any type of plane, in the history of aviation". I'm sorry, that's not true.
It's the largest supersonic craft (if you ignore rockets), maybe that's what he had read and then got it confused?
Largest Mach 3 bomber?
It was probably among the largest aircraft when it first flew in 1965. The An-22, the 747, the C-5 and other heavyweights, all of them were in the future.
I have visited the air force museum at Wright-Pat, the XB-70 is a huge aircraft, dominating the right side (from the entrance) of the hangar, and I think it looks incredibly beautiful too.
"PERHAPS unintentionally"?????? So he may have decided to hit it in a suicide fireball? WTF.
Yeah, that was some weird narration there.
When he said that all I could think of was the F-104 yelling LEEEEEEEROOOOOY JEEEEENKIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNS!
@Dark Skies you are SO good. It is amazing how you can segue so smoothly into that Magellan promo and make it seem like it's a natural part of your video.
I love this narrator’s voice.
The sign at Dayton said not to touch it, but little me did every year.
I did same with the SR-71 at Warner Robbins... partly because it didn't look in person like it does in videos. I thought anything so fast and looked so "swoopy", had to be extra smooth and slick, which it isn't. But i also ignored the rope around Elvis's "Gold Cadillac" and touched it too... at Vicksburg back in the 60's. This car: th-cam.com/video/G0pSrOICysk/w-d-xo.html i thought it odd to have a turntable in a car.
LOL
Saw it several times at the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum where my favorite uncle worked as a high muckity-muck. Even he couldn't get me inside, much to my dismay. But man was it beautiful!
Then there are the rumors of what happened to airframe #3. Scrapped or went black(we hope it went black).
Once you go black......
What rumors? It was never completed as it was cancelled early in its production. Don’t buy into that kind of crap.
Digging at Tycho
AV-3 wasn’t that far along. The design was completed at the end of 1963, and procurement of some of the materials for production was done, as well as fabrication of parts of the honeycomb structure, but with the massive budget cuts the program saw in 1963 (they only got just under $53 million out of a requested $491) they tried a vast number of alternative usage profiles to keep AV-3 on the table, but it just couldn’t be saved.
AV-3 was in its RSB-70 configuration supposed to have a four-man crew as opposed to just the two pilots in AV-1 and AV-2. It was also supposed to have an advanced offensive and defensive electronics and weapons suite, which changed to reconnaissance equipment only in the proposed RS-70 role. In the end, as is well known, neither came through.
Again, don’t listen to dreamers and their fantasies. AV-3 was never finished, it never flew, it most certainly never “went black” and while a lot of the scientific data the two Valkyries gathered have been used in many other projects, the saga of the XB-70 Valkyrie died when AV-1 landed in Dayton, Ohio to spend the rest of its days at the USAF museum.
"or went black" To what end? Come on, use some critical thinking. You can't retrofit effective stealth technology on a design that isn't stealth. You can add bits and pieces, like the the SU-35, to partially reduce an aspect. So, if it's not stealthy, an aircraft the size of the XB-70 certainly couldn't survive modern layered air defense systems regardless of its speed . The Mig-31 exists to take out targets such as this at extreme BVR ranges with hypersonic missiles (Mach 5+). And due to the XB-70's design, it can't fly nap of the earth at speed like the B-1 can. So what role would it be enhanced for that is not already handled by existing aircraft?
I said rumors, it's all in fun. You guys need to not take this stuff so seriously.
I’ve watched documentaries on this aircraft before but this one was more thorough than any I have seen so far. The only error I saw was referring to the F4 phantom as the F48, and I’ll let that slide. Thanks Darkskies for another great upload.
I noticed several errors, it was not wing tip vortices that caused the F104 to hit the XB70 as the Valkyrie’s wings generated lift using vortices over the whole wing. The 2nd prototype had additional anhedral not dihedral which gave better high speed performance. Also not mentioned was that prototype 1 had a fuel tank sealing problem which limited its high speed endurance and that’s why prototype 2 was used for most of the high speed research.
2:08 Start
Thanks to Magellan TV for making this comment
As a child in '66, I remember reading about the XB-70 in Life magazine, and fell in love with the beautiful aircraft. The tragedy broke my heart. Till today that memory causes me to pause, and tears well up in my eyes. Don't know what my attachment is, but it's the truth.
@Galileo7of9 That's so impressive! Moving houses, and varying situations, somehow resulted in my losing a lot of the collections of magazines and comics I had. Glad you could hold on to those gems.
@Galileo7of9 Now you're making me seriously jealous! (Lol). Being part of the model-building group in school, we made a replica of the plane, with one motor at the back. We went down to the beach behind our school and launched it. And you know what? It flew out over the sea, turned around a bit, and nose-dived into the water, splintering into pieces! Eerie coincidence or what?
@ 6:50, the reader refers to the Lockheed fighter as the "F Hundred and Four." No one who knows anything about military aircraft would ever call it that. Yeah, anyone else would call it the "F One Oh Four."
AND I just found that if you slow the video playback speed to 75%, the reader almost sounds normal. So, Mr. Skies, are you speeding up your reading recording to add 'drama.' I'm sure that's why you use the annoying, fake scratched film effect.
Dude, if you're gonna piss on the show then why bother watching it? We're all just trying to have a good time here.
I concur with calling out the horrid mis-pronunciation of the Starfighter's designation. If people are interested in aviation history, they learn the correct vocabulary of the industry. It makes things more fun.
Do the video yourself if you're gonna nitpick, Brits speak quickly its just your slow mind
I've got to say your my favorite youtube channel. Your videos are so interesting and really teach me a lot. Thanks for making these!
In an average person's lifetime, we went from the wright brothers to this. Thank you Roswell.
One of my favorites excellent video thumbs up military aviation history buff/nerds/geeks
Dealing with a Prototype Aircraft that was participating in Flight Tests.... Uncomfortable, or not, you best turn your damn head...!!!!
I saw the xb70 at Wright Patterson flight museum in 96 as a teenager. It was an amazing plane to see up close. The intake vents were massive in person
Was this before or after the usa stole the avero arrow tech n shut the project down or after...... same tech.
This is a copy of the oddly enough scrapped Avrow Arrow. The Canadian government, unfortunately for our citizens, sold out. What a shame. And the Arrow never had any issues to speak of.
The avero company was already shuttered before the plane even was in the drawing board, but the design does follow it, as physics demands certain things to remain constant. And, if I remember correctly, a great number of the avero engineers worked here as well.
jim darling - Avro.
@@AtheistOrphan originally was A.V.Ero.
jim darling - No. The company was named after it’s founder, Alliot Vernon Roe, hence ‘Avro’. I wrote about the history of the company and it’s aircraft as a project when I joined the Royal Air Force in the early 1980s. (We each had to write about an aircraft manufacturer). Check out the Wikipedia article on Avro (and Avro Canada) for more information.
This was a great aircraft to see in person. I saw it in the research hangar before the 4th hangar was built. There were no barricades around any of the aircraft so you could get as close as you wanted. This monstrosity just barely fit in that hangar with only a few feet to spare i'd say. Other x planes were parked around and underneath it IE the x-15.
F-48 and F-"one hundred and four"? Try F-4 and F- one-oh-four
I saw the XB-70 at the airforce museum in Dayton Ohio. Unbelievably impressive machine.
Will you do an episode on the USS Liberty?
I grew up in southern California and we enjoyed going to air shows at all the bases over the years. In May 1966 we went to Edwards Air Force Base for Armed Forces Day. We were surprised, and shocked really, to find two very unusual airplanes on display; a YF-12A and the XB-70. In both cases, one of each also flew in the flight demonstration show (even at 15, I had been to a lot of airshows by then, but the YF-12A was the first time I witnessed any airplane go straight up and disappear into a clear blue sky (leveling off at 50,000 feet!). Two weeks later, we learned that the #2 XB-70 (the one we saw fly) had crashed. Two years later, during summer school, my class went to Edwards on a field trip. I remember driving along the road heading to the base and some wise guys on the bus started laughing at a sign along the road that stated, WATCH OUT FOR LOW FLYING AIRPLANES. I wasn't very assertive back then, but I spoke up and told them that it wasn't a joke. Just then, on the horizon beyond their side of the bus, but up ahead, I saw a dark patch, so a moment later I calmly told them to duck and pointed to a B-52 with smoke pouring from its 8 engines, an HL-10 lifting body under its wing, along with 2 F-100 chase planes, that intercepted the bus and came perfectly overhead at a very, very low altitude, with a thundering roar. Their eyes were as wide as saucers as they snapped their heads around to see, and you never saw two guys shut up faster than those two (as well as everyone else on the bus). Anyway, near the end of our visit (which was just a visit, including a swim in their base pool) our group was taken into a hanger, and there was the last remaining XB-70. We were told that the next day the plane was to be flown to Wright-Patterson in Ohio, and we met the pilots, and got to ask them questions, which was quite an awesome experience. In the video, they said the XB-70 went to Ohio in 1969, but I'm very sure my experience happened the year before that, in 1968.
Slow down when you speak, can't even hear what you say sometimes, its really fast
Go to Settings > speed > .75 > problem solved.
Use your ears
This was the plane I always built out of legos when I was a kid. Love the design
"ICBM's" and then you show a SAM-launch and a nuke explosion......not good.
8:45 ? He says "Surface to air missiles" and shows a target exploding or did I miss something?
Some explosions create mushroom clouds
Was able to walk under this massive dart 20 years ago at Wright Pat.....thanks for the documentary!
It would have been almost better without the 'narration'.
One of the best looking planes ever designed, shades of Firefox and concord rolled into one.
The narrators voice in these videos is painful AF. 🤦🏼♂️
Slow the playback speed down to 50%, he sounds mega wasted!
I think he has a great voice for these videos.
Kevin Miller He sounds like he’s got a stuffed up nose and he talks waaaay too fast.
Went to Wright Patterson AF Museum in the Early 90s...at that time you could stand directly under the fuselage and touch her belly...the XB-70 probably one of the most Beautiful aircraft ever built...She is beautiful and Majestic ...
The Air Force museum is well worth the visit near Dayton Ohio. The XB 70 is stunning in person!
Given the sound barrier was only broken a few years before(‘47),this plane was an amazing feat of engineering.The footage of the wheels on fire while landing and the parachutes needed to help stop it speaks to the incredible weight.She truly was one of the most beautiful and futuristic looking planes ever designed.
Actually the sound barrier had been broken in 1942 - V-2 missiles launched against London were supersonic. By the time the 1st Valkyrie had flown, over 20 years later, the atom had been split, and astronauts had orbited the Earth.
Next to the Black Bird , the Valkyrie is the most beautiful plane ever made.
This is *probably* my favorite aircraft, definitely my favorite military aircraft
Mine is a sukhoi su47 berkut😍❤
At 3;38 i was a ground crew mechanic at EDW AFB on that very TB-58, 6515th OMS 1964-1965 straight out of tech school. Very fortunet to have been selected for flight test with the XB-70. One of the high lights of my USAF career. Then Vietnam came along and was transferred to Military Airlift command at Travis AFB California and then to Norton AFB as a crew chief on the then new C-141A and much later on to C-130E. But Edwards will always be my favorite place.
One of the coolest things I'd ever seen. I'd hoped to see a video on this aircraft.
Thanks ☺️
Reminds me of a KLINGON war vessel from the original STAR TREK.
As soon as i read that, i could hear the Klingon spaceship scene theme playing in my mind.
I was 10, in fourth grade, in Royal oak Michigan in 1969. We used to get the scholastic book service magazine and they used to talk about the future. One thing they talked about was the SST. I was fascinated by that.
your videos are amazing, and that plane was just too beautiful for humanity.
A great video. The XB-70 Valkyrie is one of my favorite aircraft.
One plane i’d love to have seen made and still used today, to see it today with all its upgrades and what it would look like and it’s performance would be very neat to see
The XB70 flew over our area (far western Colorado) many times in the 1960's. It was awesome.
I've been to the museum in Dayton multiple times, and I am always in awe of the XB-70. People deservedly love the SR-71, but the XB-70 was developed at about the same time, flew almost as high, and almost as fast. That the Blackbirds were never shot down in all their years of service, indicates to me that the Valkyrie could have successfully completed a high altitude high speed bombing mission.
..or it might indicate that the SR-71 never overflew Soviet airspace, as a production B-70 would have had to, or that an SR-71 never had to slow down, as a B-70 might have had to do when "delivering" its payload.