The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was relocated outside for a day on October 6, 2020, as part of an effort to renovate a gallery in the fourth building of the museum
The stunning video in this post was captured on October 6, 2020, and it shows the National Museum of the US Air Force’s North American XB-70 Valkyrie Mach 3 bomber being moved outside for a day as part of an exhibit refurbishment in the museum’s fourth building.
The XB-70A was an experimental high-speed, delta-wing aircraft created for the US Air Force (USAF) by North American Aviation’s (NAA) Los Angeles Division. It was intended to fly at three times the speed of sound and higher than 70,000 feet (21,000 kilometers).
At Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, 5,000 workers and visitors witnessed NAA Chief Pilot Alvin White and USAF copilot Joseph Cotton launch the elegant six-engine giant for its first flight on September 21, 1964. The effort had begun in 1954 when Boeing and NAA both submitted concepts for the Air Force Weapon System 110A competition. The competition was won by NAA on December 23, 1957.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are less expensive and presumably more resilient, have been prioritized as the cornerstone of US nuclear forces, however, budget cuts at the federal level and improvements in Soviet air defenses have had the opposite effect. The Air Force reduced the B-70 to a research program on April 10, 1961, and just two of the aircraft would be produced. On July 17, 1965, the XB-70A-2, a second Valkyrie, took to the air.
The XB-70 is still the biggest and heaviest aircraft to have ever flown at Mach 3 with a maximum takeoff weight of 542,000 pounds (245,847 kilograms). The XB-70 was supported on the ground by a powerful landing gear that weighed more than 6 tons (5.4 tonnes) and was made up of 2 tons (1.8 tonnes) of wheels, tires, and brakes. The nose gear had two wheels, while each of the major gears had four. The XB-70 stopped at a speed of around 100 mph (61 kph) and absorbed enough kinetic energy to stop 800 medium-sized cars in one motion.
The XB-70A-2 and an F-104 that had been caught in Valkyrie’s vortex wake were both destroyed in the disaster on June 8, 1966, during a photo flight, which also claimed the lives of two pilots. The last Valkyrie, XB-70A-1, flew for NASA testing supersonic transport’s flight regime before being added to the collection at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, on February 4, 1969.
Video by the NMUSAF Public Affairs Division-Ken LaRock.
