Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!amdcad!military
From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: The XB-70 bomber program
Message-ID: <27495@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 26 Sep 89 08:20:39 GMT
References: <27390@amdcad.AMD.COM> <27408@amdcad.AMD.COM> <27444@amdcad.AMD.COM>
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From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix)

In article <27444@amdcad.AMD.COM>, dlj@ark2.att.com (David L Jacobowitz) writes:
> I think North American built the XB-70 Valkyrie.  It's mission was to
> be high speed/high altitude (Mach 3/80000 ft) penetration of Soviet
> airspace to deliver nuclear weapons.  

The design grew out of a 50s Air Force requirement for a high, fast,
penetration bomber.  The two main competitors for the contract were
Boeing and North American (now Rockwell).

> It was one of the first airplanes
> to have canards (i.e. a "tail before the wings" configuration).  It
> also had huge delta wings, with the tips of the wings able to be "bent"
> downward for high speed supersonic flight.  

North American applied some very new theories about high speed flight,
including something called "compression lift".  You could get an
aircraft going very fast, with reduced fuel and power requirements.

Boeing's team didn't try to apply compression lift, and they had some
*very* impressive design approaches.  As in *really* big and heavy
aircraft.  To get the range called for, one of them included wing tips
that departed the main aircraft (some flew back to be used again...)
when it began its high-speed dash portion of the flight.

> However, while the XB-70
> was being developed, the Soviets convinced the US Air Force that high
> altitude entry into their airspace was not practical.

The Soviets also designed the MiG-25 Foxbat during this time as a counter
to the B-70.  The later MiG-31 (Foxhound?) is a two-seat followup to the
MiG-25 intended to deal with cruise missiles.

> One F-104 got too close to the XB-70, and was "pulled" over

The F-104 removed one of the B-70's vertical fins, killing the 104 pilot
as it did so.

One of the XB-70A's crew survived by ejecting in his escape pod.  The
other member of the crew never ejected.

The remaining XB-70 flew a couple more times, last of all to Wright-Patterson
to be stored at the museum.

(I saw the XB-70 at Edwards during a highschool science class field trip.
We even got to touch it!)

--
"...I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by 
reorganizing: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion 
of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization."
	- Petronius Arbiter, 210 B.C.