The World’s Fastest Nuclear Bomber: North American XB-70 Valkyrie | Mach 3 Aircraft

[Music] foreign Century after its Maiden flight the xb70 stands as one of aviation's greatest achievements this is the xb70 valkyrie a supersonic heavy bomber that featured design Innovations decades ahead of the planes of its time yet this revolutionary aircraft never went into service because while it was being developed the Strategic picture changed design is a replacement for the Boeing B-52 the xb70 could travel at three times the speed of sound employing technology that was well ahead of its time the xb70 is one of the best aircraft designs that never went into production a decade later a similar fate almost befell This Plane the B1 bomber apart from modifications to the engine intake the b1b scene here looks very similar to its controversial predecessor the b1a heavy bomber however because of the evolution of Technology the b1b in many ways was a very different aircraft foreign probably the biggest single step forward in the search for new technology to gain higher speed came with the Advent of the jet engine although pre-war Germany first utilized jet power American Engineers also tested the concept on experimental aircraft before the war's end with aircraft like Bell's era comet the first major development of the post-war year was the record-breaking Bell X1 rocket-powered experimental aircraft dropped from a second world war bomber on December 9 1946 in the hands of test pilot Chuck Yeager the X1 broke the sound barrier for the first time further development to produce the X2 which flew faster and higher than its predecessor the Quest for higher speed but phenomenal stress not only on the aircraft but also on their pilots the risk of even a minor malfunction at the speeds now being attempted was enormous much of the data gathered by the ex-airplane tests was used for military objectives faster aircraft would be harder targets to hit [Music] [Music] everybody [Music] some of the lessons learned from the ex-airplane program were applied to American fighters and bombers with the Cold War on stretching the boundaries of speed and distance had become a matter of National Security foreign by the mid 50s the Strategic Air Command known as Sac was deploying its first all-jet long-range heavy bomber Boeing's B-52 strato Fortress a giant plane with eight jet engines suspended below fully swept Wings the B-52 could fly at speeds of 600 miles an hour with a large payload but although the B-52 was one of the major successes of post-war Aviation it was not supersonic the next step in the quest to increase the speed of armor aircraft came with the b-58 Hustler this delta wing was developed by convair to produce a bomber aircraft which could actually fly and sustain at supersonic speeds but to attain this performance the plane had to be relatively small and could only be classified as a medium bomber foreign [Music] fifties when Soviet America tensions ran high Sac wanted a bomber at least as large as the B-52 but faster than the Hustler this was a very tall order for engineers to meet taking a heavy bomber past the sound barrier required a phenomenal power source temporarily discarding normal jet power as inadequate Aviation companies look towards two alternatives the first was nuclear power used to successfully Propel submarines convair converted a conventional B-36 not unlike this one to carry a loft of fully commissioned nuclear reactor the crewmen were insulated by lead shielding and although no attempt at this stage was made to transfer power to propel the aircraft tests were carried out in earnest various designs were put forward for bombers which would at least impart be nuclear-powered however the biggest problem here was the ramifications of a nuclear-powered plane crashing in a populated area another proposal to boost power would be equipping bombers with external tanks of fast burning zip fuels such as boron prior to the plane making its final Dash to its Target the enormous fuel tanks would be dropped lightening the aircraft for attack but an ingenious solution to the problem came forth from North American Aviation the company had refined the concept of compression lift their Plan called for mounting six enormous jet engines in a tapered shape under the aircraft thus forcing air away from the center section at high speed the design also allowed for this air to be trapped by the outer edge of the wing when it was lowered the compressed air would act to lift the aircraft and help Propel it three times the speed of sound the design was given the name xp70 and Sac approved it for development in December 1957. North American had a long string of successes including the development of the twin-engine supersonic vigilante bomber for the US Navy this aircraft combines speed and bombing capacity never previously available to carry it but now having put forward the compression lift concept for a high-speed bomber North American's big problem was Heat wind tunnel tests proved the theory could work but the great speeds the plane would fly at would produce such heat that all conventional materials would Warp to tackle the problem North American employed a honeycomb sandwich material made from stainless steel this offered strength and dissipated Heat after 12 months of testing designs mock-ups an order was placed for One XP 70. but the aircraft now called The Valkyrie was in for a stormy time two years after accepting the concept Financial pressures forced the Air Force to limit the production to one prototype although extra money was made available in 1960 the Air Force was having trouble holding on to its supersonic bomber the final blow came with the arrival of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who redefined the xp-70 as a high-speed research project and limited production to just two aircraft but at least the concept was still alive and its proponents hoped it still might ultimately be accepted for military use by 1963 at least one aircraft was well underway [Music] the first xp-70 serial number 2001 must have been an awe-inspiring site for those lucky enough to see it but it was not until May 11 1964 when the press in public were given their chance to Marvel over North American's Sleek white Wonder thank you [Music] Brigadier General Fred J ascani who directed The B70 System Program office described the plane's various features most of the structure in the wings and fuselage is of stainless steel these are our now famous Honeycomb Core sandwich panels and many of the otter skins on these honeycomb panels are as thin as seven one thousandths of an inch a two-man crew will sit side by side the crew station in this position is about 20 feet above the ground all of the space after the crew compartment is taken up by Fuel both in the fuselage and in the wings before the xb70 was poised at the downwind end of Palmdale's 12 000 foot runway for its first flight numerous ground tests would have to be performed shortly after its debut to the public the aircraft was again up on Jacks while its electrical and hydraulic support systems were thoroughly tested [Music] all moving surfaces were subject to vigorous testing all flight controls including the forward canards the elevons and Rudders were fail tested and tested again foreign [Music] [Music] thank you like so much of the xb70 the landing gear which had to support the plane's phenomenal weight as well as the added stress of landing and takeoff was for the time a unique and brilliantly designed feature [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] the forward twin Wheels were conventional but the support gear was required to rotate as well as fold the four-wheel bogey mechanism which was stored in the limited space available the whole process of extending and retracting the clever but complex gear could be achieved in little over 20 seconds all of the many complex tests that took place during the weeks before the first takeoff were recorded in a special flight test instrumentation package a self-contained Airborne unit this device was the first of its kind it was carried in the aircraft's bond Bay and remained with a plane for ground taxiing and flight tests the xb70 Prototype was also subjected to vibration tests that were designed to expose the gigantic fuselage and Wing surfaces to the effects of vibration far beyond the point it might encounter in flight as the aircraft has proceeded air Crews were introduced to some of the engine's characteristics here at the Arnold engineering Development Center in Tennessee ayj 93 engine was set up in a simulation of the valkyrie the engine was installed in a test chamber to give the flight crew their first experience with its enormous power the conditions were artificial but similar to what the crew would experience in flight seen here is Al White North American's Chief test pilot the man chosen to command the xb70s maiden flight with him is Air Force Colonel Joe Cotton the co-pilot for much of the early test program the backup crew shown here are van Shepard from North American and Lieutenant Colonel fitziel sultan for months these men were embroiled in the business of learning how to fly the world's most advanced and ambitious aviation project by early September most of the exhausting static tests have been completed now the most revealing tests would begin tests with the aircraft in motion then eventually tests of the xb70 in flight before the engines were fired up the complicated in-flight recording systems were primed to record every technical event as it occurred this view of The Valkyrie gives a clear picture of what was to become known as the six-pack tightly grouped together this phenomenal powerful combination of six jet engines were to propel the valkyrie to speeds considered impossible only a few years before now hundreds of mechanical functions were checked they would have to perform perfectly if the valkyrie project was to succeed the aircraft was removed from all external power sources foreign [Music] after a series of Taxi runs pilots and technicians were satisfied that the valkyrie was ready for its Maiden flight on September 21st 1964 the xb70a positioned itself at the end of the Palmdale runway for a historic moment with North American Aviation and the United States Air Force here as planned white and cotton were in the cockpit at exactly 8 38 the valkyrie took to the air for the first time to begin a series of Epic making test flights thank you [Music] accompanied by a single Chase plane simple routine checks were made as the pilots experienced the ways of the valkyrian flight one of the first tasks was to retract the aircraft's advanced landing gear but the mechanism failed to respond with hundreds of millions of dollars of high technology in his hands whites at the landing gear back into its original position the gear slowly responded to the cockpit control clearly the first tests were to be made wheels down nevertheless an alternative plan was available and the plane continued on its Maiden flight although one engine was shut down when a warning light flashed over 60 Minutes of valuable testing was gained by the time the aircraft headed back home to Edwards Air Force Base [Music] all right music on Landing one of the rear brakes locked setting that landing gear on fire sitting 20 feet above the ground with the aircraft handling impeccably the crew had to be told to the fire by the chase plane foreign two weeks after its first flight with its landing gear engine and brake problems all resolved the XB was ready for its second trial On An Early Autumn morning pilot Al White rotated Test air vehicle number one into flight [Music] this time there were two Chase planes so the landing gear retraction could be viewed from both sides a second attempt was made to lift the gear in flight again anxious moments passed as the chase planes Crews watched foreign [Music] now with the landing gear stowed away the valkyrie could begin tests at higher speeds as the plane climbed to altitude a warning light flashed in the cockpit alerting the pilots to a minor failure in one of the hydraulic systems as a precaution white lowered the landing gear again and pointed the aircraft towards an alternative destination Rogers dry lake which proved the security of an 11-mile natural Runway [Music] the approach was smooth the brakes operated effectively and the valkyrie made a perfect Landing after the flight it was learned that a fractured pipe had set off the warning light but considering the enormous complexity of the aircraft this and the other problems encountered were hardly unexpected the pilots reported that the valkyrie behaved in a predictable and comfortable manner they were coming to terms with the world's most powerful aircraft while the first prototype was being tested construction of the second xb70 preceded steadily the massive tubular fuselage was married to the six-pack the enormous white fins that would direct the valkyrie were already in place learned from the construction for the first prototype rapidly reduced the manufacturing time of air vehicle number two the second aircraft differed from the first in a subtle design change an extra 5 degree dihedral was added to the wings to improve flight stability here one of the massive wing tips is being fitted this unique feature was until recently the largest single moving surface unit fitted to an aircraft the presence of these wingtips would enable the unique compression lift principles to propel North Americans brainchild into the trisonic stage at Edwards Air vehicle number one was Rising into the sky again now white cotton and the engineers had sufficient confidence to push the valkyrie beyond the speed of sound on no less than three occasions the plane was taken supersonic then lowered to subsonic flight but doing this stressed the aircraft which was designed to be flexible as a result much of the thick white paint that covered the aircraft's surface flaked and peeled away but all concern would have agreed that it was a small price to pay to get the xb70 past the speed of sound [Music] however for this aircraft to reach Mach 3 it would have to go much faster and testing continued October 24th saw the plane's fourth takeoff at approximately forty thousand feet the folding tips which had previously never been used were lowered to the halfway position this would improve the aircraft's stability and reduce the wing drag effect at this stage cotton applied full afterburners to the six-pack and the Slender white shape of The Valkyrie began its steady increase in speed [Music] [Music] foreign on October 14 1965 during its 25th flight at an altitude of seventy thousand feet wing tips fully lowered air vehicle number one reached its goal three times the speed of sound but despite its technical success and its success at meeting sax need for a heavy bomber many times faster than the b-58 Hustler the valkyrie was not destined to be adopted in military service the Air Force knowing the plane would not be accepted as a bomber had tried to acquire 150 Valkyries for a reconnaissance rule but the survivability of high-flying planes over enemy airspace was now considered doubtful Soviet anti-aircraft missiles had managed to down a U2 spy plane which could fly at Heights previously considered safe from any attack missiles also competed with high-speed bomber Concepts within the U.S Air Force the sac now had intercontinental ballistic missiles to carry their nuclear bombs weapons that were more economical and Unstoppable than airplanes from the early 1960s on the ICBM was considered the primary means of delivering nuclear weapons [Music] the ICBM also allows the Navy to play a role in strategic bombing as its submarines offered platforms that were highly mobile and could not be detected an enormous advantage that the Air Force bombers would not enjoy until the Advent of the b-1b and the B2 like the xb70 the b1a was designed to replace the B-52 as the Strategic Air command's high altitude heavy bomber however due to political conflicts and Technical problems the project was canceled but the B1 didn't die over the next several years the U.S Air Force in Rockwell the plane's manufacturer revised the aircraft parameters taking full advantage of the aircraft's Swing Wing potential Rockwell redesigned the plane for long range low-level missions the plane was outfitted with the latest detection of Asian Electronics but the major difference between the b1a and the b1b is that simply the later model although the product of considerable technical Innovation and years of additional development was actually made to be slower than its predecessor radar jamming and stealth technology have changed the specifications for strategic bombing aircraft but this is a relatively new development for much of the century the military constantly sought faster and faster planes the xb70 faced an uncertain future despite the pentagon's decision not to deploy its supersonic bomber Air Force testing of the two xb70 prototypes continued one unique feature of the plane the crew escape capsule was a masterpiece of engineering should the valkyrie depressurize the capsule's clam-like top and bottom shells would automatically roll forward and completely engulf the crew member in an airtight module from there the pilot would still have limited control over the aircraft and if necessary the entire capsule could be fired from the plane into the air these capsules were to play a very important part in the final chapter of the air vehicle number two seen here with its slightly raised Wings the air vehicle number two takes off on a routine test mission on June 8 1966. Al White was in command but he had a new co-pilot major Carl s cross beside him cross was an extremely experienced pilot who had just joined the xb70 project at 8 27 in the morning after testing the valkyrie joined the formation with four Chase planes the event would be recorded by an accompanying Learjet the exercise was simple enough and shouldn't have presented any problems on the valkyrie's inside right was an f-104 flown by test pilot Joe Walker Walker who was slated to join the xb70 program probably had more supersonic experience than any man alive he recently completed a flight program on North Americans X-15 the fastest plane on Earth flying below and slightly behind the valkyrie's right wing Locker's f-104 Starfighter somehow veered too close to the valkyrie [Music] this shot taken from the aircraft on the valkyrie's left is reversed to give some indication of what Joe Walker may have seen moments before his Starfighter collided with the xb70s wingtip possibly the vector effect on the giant bomber pulled the little fighter into its massive wingtip in any event in the matter of seconds the f-104 was hit and rolled into an inverted position across the top half of the valkyrie's massive frame as it did so it struck both the xb70s vertical fins and the left wing tip therefore it fell thousands of feet to its destruction then with a dreadful shutter The Valkyrie rolled over and started on a steep spin L white reached for the ejection mechanism within his capsule and fired out of the stricken aircraft seconds before it struck the desert his co-pilot was not so lucky and remained in the plane probably the g-forces of The Descent stopped his ejection by 936 air vehicle number two was reduced to a smoldering carcass in the desert foreign emergency helicopters rushed to the site but there was little chance that major cross could have survived however about 10 miles away the escape capsule containing Al White was spotted Al was badly injured and over the next several days his life hung in the balance his capsule had not landed correctly but mercifully his Pilot seat had broken when it reached the ground reducing the impact over the days that followed technicians and project officials studied the records for Clues but the story was simple enough somehow the little f-104 fighter had accidentally collided with the xb70 and on that fateful morning in one action America lost two Brave test pilots and one of the only two Valkyries ever to be produced Al White the valkyrie's first pilot and the man who flew more flights on the xb70 than anyone else recovered from the crash but never flew the xb70 again thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] vehicle number two crashed the remaining xb70 continued to be tested over a period of five years it was to log 83 test flights and the research that it and it alone could do would provide valuable information for supersonic transport evaluation and many other projects relating to size weight heat and speed but in some ways the valkyrie had also been a military success years later it was learned that the Soviet Union so feared the potential of the xb70 but it had tried to develop its own smaller version the Soviet sphere of The Valkyrie was also demonstrated in another way for it's now known that the Russians developed at a tremendous expense the high performance mig-25 foxpath this Fighter's sole function was to protect Russia from high-flying supersonic bomber aircraft aircraft like the valkyrie the Paradox was that it seems likely that Russian scientists use North American vigilante bombers as patterns for the foxbat the similarities are just so close both in size and in shape that it seems certain that the Soviet designers used American Research of the early 1950s to protect the Soviet Union from American bombers of the 1960s [Music] [Music] eventually the one remaining Valkyrie was phased out of test service air vehicle Number One landed for the last time at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base home of the United States Air Force Museum piloted by Fitzhugh Fulton and Ted stumpfel it was still collecting valuable data even on its last flight shortly before it was signed over to the museum curator complete with its logbook and a brief ceremony one of the pilots is reported to have said I would give anything to keep the valkyrie in the air except pay for it myself the valkyrie program has become expensive the cost of the project divided by the number of flights cost American taxpayers 11 million dollars every time it took to the air but there can be little doubt that North American Aviation Engineers had not only achieved a technical Wonder they had produced one of the world's truly magnificent and unique planes foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you there were two xb70s built only to be used for test and they were extremely effective they went three times the speed of sound flew nearly to 80 000 feet and the test program was very successful unfortunately there was an accident in 1966 that had nothing to do with the test it was a a air-to-air collision so but the test program was extremely successful and everything about the xb70 is exotic every single thing about the xb70 it had wingtips that drooped down to take advantage of something called compression lift and basically the idea is the xb70 at supersonic speed is creating these shock waves and Engineers figured out a way to harness those shock waves so that the xb70 actually rides on those shock waves and it generates additional lift and the wing tips which were alone as large as the wings on an aircraft the smaller aircraft would droop down and help contain that compression and take advantage of the compression lift foreign foreign there was a large move in 2002 and the existing galleries were created the Cold War Gallery War II Gallery three more gallery and so forth and the idea was to move all of the aircraft that were research and development move them together in one place and unfortunately that place was on the guarded side of the base but the idea was that when the next building was built that then they would all move together as one unit over to the new building rather than tear Park galleries pulling r d airplanes out of this one and that one they would all come over here together so to see the conclusion of that plan uh the vision that was imagined 15 years ago to see them come over here together and see the xb70 move back is really very wonderful many of us have been waiting about 15 years for this to happen so it's exciting foreign xb70 were its Advanced engines they were test engines they were not production engines in fact they're only about 30 or so j93 engines built it used a special Fuel jp6 and the thrust of a j93 one of these engines on the xb70 is equivalent to the thrust on a front line advanced fighter flying today we've been very fortunate to be able to see some of these aircraft moving in and see this Gallery beginning to form uh we're very excited when we'll be able to show the public in 2016 and they'll be able to see the research and development Gallery space gallery the presidential gallery and the global reach gallery and the staff here is working feverishly to get to that date and so the public can finally see these wonderful artifacts on display foreign [Music] if you enjoyed this video please remember to like And subscribe and as always thank you for watching [Music] [Music]

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Id: zAIAeJmo5_c

Length: 48min 20sec (2900 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 11 2023