{"id":2355,"date":"2017-09-22T17:15:05","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T22:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/?p=2355"},"modified":"2017-09-22T17:15:05","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T22:15:05","slug":"the-first-flight-of-the-xb-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/the-first-flight-of-the-xb-70\/","title":{"rendered":"Anniversary of The First Flight of the XB-70"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I have two all-time favorite airplanes.\u00a0 One is the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the other is the North American XB-70 Valkyrie.\u00a0 September 21, marked the 53rd<\/sup> anniversary of the first flight of the XB-70.\u00a0 What a plane she was!<\/p>\n

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Remember the context of the early 1960s.\u00a0 The United States was at, perhaps, the high point of the Cold War with the Soviet Union (USSR).\u00a0 The USSR has shot down an US spy plane, the U2, in 1960.\u00a0 Both the United States and Russia were developing nuclear weapons which were aimed at one another.<\/p>\n

The United States was relying on a bomber, called the B-52, to deliver nuclear weapons to Soviet land, in retaliation for any nuclear bombing of the United States.\u00a0 It was known as Mutually Assured Destruction (or MAD).\u00a0 Essentially each side was saying, \u201cYou don\u2019t want to bomb us, or we will bomb you\u201d.\u00a0 Though the stakes were incredibly high, the strategy actually worked quite well for both sides, as neither wanted to be bombed.\u00a0 A tense, but steady peace, was maintained between the two enemy nations.<\/p>\n

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The United States was concerned that the B-52 could be easily shot down by new Soviet fighters, such as the MIG-21.\u00a0 The US felt it was important to develop a bomber that could outrun any Soviet fighter.\u00a0 This was the impetus for the XB-70.<\/p>\n

It was called X for Experimental.\u00a0 It was called B for Bomber. It was 70 since the United States had the B-52 and the B-58.\u00a0 The 70 indicating a whole new generation of bomber.<\/p>\n

To outrun the MIG-21 the plane would have to be fast and fast she was.\u00a0 The XB-70 was designed to fly at speeds in excess of Mach 3.\u00a0 Three times the speed of sound or over 2,100 mph.\u00a0 That is fast!<\/p>\n

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To accomplish the feat the plane had SIX jet engines.\u00a0 Each had 11 stages and could produce over 22,000 pounds of thrust (31,000 with afterburners on).<\/p>\n

The jet was enormous.\u00a0 It stood nearly 31 feet off the ground.\u00a0 It was 196\u2019 long and 105\u2019 wide. \u00a0To compensate for this enormous sign, the engineers developed an aluminum honeycomb wing.\u00a0 So instead of a solid wing, the XB-70 was made of a matrix of aluminum that looked like a honeycomb, which was covered by a thin white sheet of aluminum.<\/p>\n

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Besides being enormous, she was beautiful.\u00a0 The XB-70 was regal like a condor.\u00a0 Its shape and size heavily influenced another fast jet built shortly thereafter, The Concorde.<\/p>\n

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So what happened to the beautiful plane?\u00a0 It was never put into production.\u00a0 Had it been, I may have volunteered for bombers.\u00a0 However, United States intelligence realized the Soviet fighters were becoming faster and their Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) were also becoming more sophisticated.\u00a0 The XB-70, it was feared, would soon be vulnerable, even with its mind boggling speed.<\/p>\n

So, only two planes were manufactured.\u00a0 One crashed (which will be the subject of a future blog).\u00a0 However, Tail 62-000, which made that first flight 53 years ago, is on display at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.\u00a0 I encourage you to go and see this beautiful bird.\u00a0 Ironically, the plane the XB-70 was designed to replace, the B-52, is still in service.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

For more information on this story and some great historical photos see:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.thisdayinaviation.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have two all-time favorite airplanes.\u00a0 One is the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the other is the North American XB-70 Valkyrie.\u00a0 September 21, marked the 53rd anniversary of the first flight of the XB-70.\u00a0 What a plane she was!   Remember the context of the early 1960s.\u00a0 The United States was at, perhaps, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":2348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[39],"tags":[439,158,440,436,442,399,443,437,438,441,435],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnniversary of The First Flight of the XB-70 - Doctor Aviation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first flight of the XB-70 occurred 53 years ago. 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