XB-70A Valkyrie: Progress Report 14

[@Jmp5nb]

My Father was working swingshift at this plant as a sheet metal tech on the XB-70 and the testing of the engines in their test cells would shake our house and awaken everyone. We saw it on rollout with the other North American workers families but had no idea what he did at the plant until that day. Amazing aircraft.

[@deadstick8624]

This is by far the best and "clearest" video of the XB-70 of all the videos that I have seen.

[@ronjon7942]

Priceless footage. Great find.

[@ronjon7942]

The assembly line shots are the best. The individuals doing the telescopic welding is something I’ve not seen before. I’d have loved being on the line building this magnificent creature. Thank you very much for posting this. Incredible.

[@cowboybob7093]

I found a bookmark, pasting in the title because YT link policies change and comments with links often disappear but don't return when the policy changes again. - This is an Hour-twelve minutes of B-70 testing - At twelve minutes in there's a particularly good shot. _XB-70A Vakyrie: Various Test Flight Footage of Both XB-70A-1 and XB-70A-2 Valkyries (Silent Footage)_ The clip is from the same content provider as this one.

[@quattro4s]

XB-70 and TSR2 are perfect examples of what engineers can achieve if politicians don't interfere with projects they don't understand

[@koc988]

Ironically they ended up being examples of what happens when system requirements no longer become relevant to the reality of an arms race The Mig-25 which was capable of Mach 3 in very short durations made the Xb-70 non cost effective as it was already an expensive program that could not afford to fall to diametric parity with soviet defenses terrain masking and later stealth was and remains a better choice over pure kinematic superiority

[@alexmoore432]

What a fantastic plane. Bravo to the engineers and test pilots. Rip to those who lost their lives

[@maximilliancunningham6091]

Fantastic, thanks for sharing. Good Viz of the Valkyrie, is quite rare.

[@realMaverickBuckley]

10:34 - Amazing. When you compare the Brand new motor vehicles next to the Valkyrie, she looks generations newer but she wasn't. Imagine if our Aircraft today looked that much more futuristic than our cars.

[@lometatron357]

Now I can imagine a tail less silhouette

[@josenighthawk]

Can you imagine this design with today's advanced technologies and micro-electronics?!! ... Possibly the most beautiful plane ever built!

[@catcraftgaming]

Does anyone know where I can find all the progress reports? I'm so interested into the XB-70 and I'd love to watch them all.

[@ShinVega]

Awesome scale perspective @2:40 Pause it there and look at the CAR colored black passing by on the far left of the screen (just below the white aircraft in the background on far left pane) compared to the MASSIVE XB-70!!! Best aircraft ever made.

[@erichaley4485]

1950s technology! But its timeless beautiful lines are unique ❤

[@cowboybob7093]

Context: The United States was testing the X-15, SR-71/YF-12, Gemini space program firsts like docking, endurance and productive spacewalks, Apollo program in full swing, Viet Nam war, Civil Rights marches, color TV, interstate highways, the oldest baby boomers turned 18 that year

[@robhavock9434]

Having seen a few aircraft this one has to be the best, I doubt it could be built today, the craftsmen don't exist, looking at Concord the hand made engine's with each component numbered, I may be wrong, but were are the people today that can build these aircraft.

[@somewhatsomething4882]

It's an issue of costs and lack of strategic needs. IE it's easier and cheaper to use/threaten to use ICBMs. The first prototype of the valkyrie cost $750 million US... One plane.

[@cowboybob7093]

Then again SpaceX type engineering and process are good XB-70 YJ93 engine: 22K/30K thrust, 5000lbs - 52"dia/232" length F-35 P&W F135: 28K dry/43K afterb-, 3750lbs weight - 46"x220" Don't get me wrong, XB-70 is magnificent, amazing.

[@robhavock9434]

@@cowboybob7093 Hello Bob nice to hear from you, when I was a lad my old man took us to see the air show at Farmbrough 1974 were the sr71 landed after flying the Atlantic in record speed as a 8 year old looking at the pilot,s in space suit's either side of the fuselage was a great event, it was a very damp day overcast with drizzle, this maybe of interest to you.

[@pilot3016]

Amazing aircraft. I own several artifacts of aircraft 001 and many autographs and some rare color photos of this beautiful beast.

[@trespire]

9:12 B-58 Hustler in chase, another iconic plane. (edit: corrected thanks. Got mixed up with it's 4 massive J79 engines)

[@pilot3016]

B-58

[@ianedmonds9191]

It looks beautiful. then you remember the point of it. It's was meant to be the gorgeous end of humankind. Scary and beautiful. Luv and Peace.

[@Salvavideocrack]

Scary? i think this was an absolutely advanced plane (so advanced that even planes of today lack of some of its technology) that was made as a deterrent to the russians, the truly scary thing is the fact that nuclear bombing never stopped since the end of ww2 using the "test" word as an excuse, and they are all conducted by most of the g20 countries in the south pacific area.

[@pilot3016]

Actually it was meant to be more of a warning. Go play with somebody else..and leave us alone.

[@phillipbeecham4354]

Such a beautiful plane. Shame that she never got put into full production from an aesthetic stand point.

[@djpalindrome]

A tremendous accomplishment using late 1950s technology. Still far advanced over anything flying decades later. MacNamara and his Harvard boys should have stuck to building ugly little cars in Henry Ford’s big ugly factory

[@Three-LeggedCat]

One of the best ever

[@barrysheridan9186]

Terrific video, what an aircraft.

[@JeffreyStrader]

I was in my 1980 Mustang and took her to ULTRASONIC speed!

[@rolflandale2565]

It passed every test, accept the very inspection goons, that helped cause the collision on the final scrap of the project. Today supersonic crafts still lack one important feature, a *turbine cycle cooling* system, like taking micro air from the front of wings and engine intakes, channeling the air to the nose tip to shower atmosphere, like a thick atmosphere, while in very micro high air altitude, saving that extreme maintenance after-arrival tag issues with external structures. A high mid hemisphere flight, would mean no sound barrier nusense, evolving eventually into a *Orbitliner* passenger craft services as well.

[@midwayization]

amazing this technology of the XB-70 was envisioned in the Leave it to Beaver days of the late 50's, yet they could not yet put man on the moon or invent a smartphone

[@winternow2242]

Actually it wasn't built until 1964, by which time, America had put astronauts in orbit, detonated the H-bomb, pioneered the transistor and were well on the way to putting a man on the moon. The only reason we accomplished any of those things is because what was accomplished back then.

[@DeickFranfan]

Excelente 🤩🤩👍👌💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎🤩🤩

[@97GeoPrizm]

It's too bad missiles made this beauty obsolete before it ever took flight.

[@jason1440]

The pilots names were White Cotton.

[@markhatch1267]

So SpaceX Starship moving fins not a new thing after all. I think the Valkyrie will stand as the most awesome airplane ever built! Fast as a Blackbird, just as good looking, but far more power!

[@brianhiles8164]

Faster. _And_ longer range with _much_ more cargo capacity, being a thermonuclear weapon; however, the fact that the XB-70´s maximum altitude was 12k ft lower than the SR-71 is consistent with its aerodynamic and weight considerations, although both planes pulled two _very_ different rabbits out of hats in their respective engine and inlet technologies, to each successfully achieve sustained Mach 3 flight.

[@psycotria]

Better looking than the A-12 & SR-71; it's the XB-70 Valkyrie! "What?!? You don't have the nitrogen-purged, triethylborane-spiked JP-6 ?!?" "Dang It !!! .... Well, just Top it off with Jet-A with Prist, then... and DON'T charge me extra for Prist! " -- "You copy that, fuel-monkey?!?" -- "Well, HURRY IT UP!!! I don't have all morning!" -- "And Oh, btw, ... I need the lav dumped, and a quick cabin vac." -- "I'll leave a tip at the counter."

[@johnglubney3228]

This plane is a Chad

[@harveywallbanger3123]

I wonder why they had him rotate so hard and so early? Almost looked like he was in danger of tailstriking with the afterburner shrouds.

[@iancurtis1152]

Is the voice-over guy.....”the one the only George Fenniman”?

[@jimhebner8412]

This was the first sst aircrat built

[@AviationCuriosity]

Can we use this video? We will put the credits into the description!

[@nicholasmaude6906]

I wonder if Progress reports 1-13 are available?

[@philorkill]

Amazing.

[@turbobluestreak]

Do you have the rest of the project updates?

[@kevkeary4700]

who is the narrator, I hear his voice in many such videos?

[@saa82vik]

Could be possible to find the complete progress report series?

[@NUCLEARARMAMENT]

I believe spacecraftfilms, the company whose footage I used for these videos, obtained from NASA's original archival recordings of this program. They claimed copyrights on some of the videos I uploaded of which are no longer available online. I'm not sure if the DVD contained more than 2 or 3 progress reports. This is all I have for now, but I'll see what I can do.

[@saa82vik]

Nuclear Armament thanks so much for the info. Love the vids and your channel. (PS: how can they claim copyright on these videos? I guess that belongs either to the US government or to North American Aviation and its successor companies...)

[@edp2260]

Faulty switch, broken hydraulic line, new paint peeling off on the third flight. Where did they get their parts and materials?

[@winternow2242]

In 5 years of Flight Test, the Valkyries suffered no losses due to design or construction faults. These were prototypes and were remarkably reliable despite that fact AND the extreme conditions in which they flew.

[@listerdave1240]

That was one of the first flights of a prototype. It is normal and expected for there to be problems, especially in a plane such as this that was pushing the limits of technology. What is actually surprising is how few problems were encountered and how well it flew from the very beginning.

[@j.muckafignotti4226]

For a first flight this was a stellar achievement.

[@ianedmonds9191]

Such beautiful aircraft. A shame ugly ballistic missiles put paid to it. Not a shame in sense we're all still here but still. Gorgeous aeroplane. Luv and Peace.

[@Nomoreidsleft]

All that effort and landing gear was broken.

[@thetreblerebel]

All these Mach 2 plus aircraft had "great" low speed handling characteristics. But in reality they all sucked at low speeds.

[@pilot3016]

Stevie Jo It wasn't meant to fly caribou out of Alaska ice fields. It isn't a STOL aircraft, and actually handled very well considering its complexity.

[@airfight10]

all he money all the tax of us citizens spendet for this garbage ding ,human mind is realy to primitive

[@pilot3016]

Yeah..we should all be rubbing sticks together or banging rocks to make fire. You must be at least 14 years old or in a third world country.