XB-70 Valkyrie: The Cold War's Experimental Nuclear Aircraft

hello everybody welcome back to another brand new episode of megaprojects i as always i'm your host simon and this one it's uh well planes often heavily requested like the experimental the more interesting all of those you know military aircraft heavily requested here and this of course is the xb70 so let's jump in [Music] imagine concorde equipped with a devastating nuclear arsenal extremely badass a plane combining supersonic speed with terrifying apocalyptic firepower this fearsome notion well it nearly became a reality with the american xb70 commonly known as valkyrie somewhat ironically or perhaps not in fact valkyrie is a name taken from norse mythology female figures who chose who lived and died in battle those selected were taken to valhalla the hall of the slain where they spent their days feasting on wild boar and preparing for ragnarok the cataclysmic final showdown of the norse gods had the xb70 developed into what was originally planned it too would have held the power of life over death but on something of a more astronomical scale there are plenty of ifs and buts in this story of what was nearly the world's first supersonic nuclear bomber and which first appeared nearly a decade before concorde the tale of the xb70 valkyrie is one of groundbreaking engineering bad timing and of course plenty of cold war posturing because cold war posturing always makes for a good megaproject during the 1950s some very ominous planning was taking place in both the united states and the ussr with both sides developing strategies in the event of a nuclear war essentially how can we destroy them without being destroyed first nuclear weapons had of course arrived on the scene at the end of world war ii with a devastation that had befallen hiroshima and nagasaki in japan but while the americans may have afforded themselves a degree of breathing room knowing they were the only nation with the atomic bomb well it didn't last very long just four years later in 1949 the soviets detonated their first nuclear weapon in the coming decades as you probably know the nuclear arms race got completely out of control and the world began hurtling down a dark peak to 1986 when there was an estimated 70 300 nuclear weapons scattered all throughout the world the overwhelming majority of these were divided between the united states and the ussr with both nations exploring various methods of nuclear deployment nuclear submarines were of course introduced and eventually so were intercontinental ballistic missiles or icbms these were capable of striking a target thousands of miles away it's all pretty terrifying stuff but while icbms had appeared in the united states in 1959 they were still considered somewhat experimental the planned nuclear strike carried out by the united states would still most likely be done in the same way the very first attack had come from an aircraft but things had changed pretty drastically since 1945 striking the ussr would need an aircraft that could tick multiple boxes had to be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon weighing several tons it had to carry enough fuel to make it to the ussr and perhaps most difficult of all it would need to be fast enough to escape the blast radius perhaps even supersonic fast but it wasn't just carrying a nuclear weapon that was being discussed as early as the 1940s the idea of an aircraft powered by nuclear energy had been on the table the nuclear reactor onboard an aircraft could keep it powered for months rather than hours why you'd want an aircraft to remain in the air for months at a time is another matter but importantly it was feasible like i said the cold war loads of cool [ __ ] came out of it and by the way there is i think it was a design by lockheed for this giant nuclear plane that is an absolutely incredible thing i'm not sure if it's long enough for a mega project but if you'd like me to do nuclear planes this absolutely giant nuclear plane aircraft carrier sort of thing let me know in the comments below in 1955 the us air force set out general operational requirement number 38. the brief called for a combination of two aspects from aircrafts that were already in operation the payload and the intercontinental range of the b-52 with the mach 2 top speed of the convair b-58 hustler it's like guys yeah we want something as big as the b-52 you know that giant propeller driven plane except we wanted to go twice the speed of sound okay so chill out guys there will be two separate aircraft designs explored one nuclear code named weapon system 125a and one conventional codenamed weapon system 110a in july 1955 six contractors were selected to bid on the projects with boeing and north american aviation being awarded contracts for phase one development on the 8th of november 1955. in mid-1956 both companies presented their designs which came out remarkably similar and were both rejected by the air force for being too large each had a takeoff weight of approximately 340 tons with large fuel loads phase one development ended but both contractors were encouraged to continue their design studies it was also around this time that the u.s air force concluded that a nuclear-powered nuclear bomber was not only unfeasible but you know incredibly dangerous and not just for the enemy it's not entirely clear when this portion of the project was completely scrapped but some claim it continued until 1961 before being terminated at a final cost rumored to be over a billion dollars in today's money quick slider here before we move on the us did put a nuclear reactor on an aircraft in the 1950s however it had nothing to do with the xb70 the convair nb-36h remains to this day the only us aircraft to fly using a nuclear reactor between the 17th of september 1955 and march 1957. it incorporated a huge lead shield to protect the crew from contamination and while it was a success in this aspect the risk of what might happen in the event of an accident led to it being cancelled in 1961. in case you're wondering of course yes the soviets had one too it was the tupolev 119 which apparently flew 40 times from 1961 to 1969. again if you'd like a video about these let me know below i can't promise it because some of these experimental aircraft that don't get made it's like there's no way i'm filling a 15 minute video with it but uh let me know in the comments if you really want it and i'll see what i can do the soviets didn't have quite the same approach to safety and a pilot who was part of this program had stated that the majority of the crew died as a result of radiation poisoning that got dark quickly it's a nuclear-powered aircraft why not put a giant lead shield in you're not burning any extra fuel i mean there's an almost unlimited amount of fuel [Music] one factor that seems to have been taken as a given in early development was known as the dash concept it stated that the aircraft would only need to activate at supersonic speed once the payload had been released but development in supersonic technology had led to some debate over whether this was actually the best method it was found that when an engine was optimized for supersonic speed the most economical cruise speed in terms of fuel per mile was actually at its top speed while the engine consumed less fuel flying at a lower speed of course it would take around four times longer to cover the same distance if an aircraft could reach max 3 its most economical flying pattern was to remain at this speed for the majority of the flight both north american aviation and boeing began redesigning their aircraft to fly continuously at max 3 and each came back with a new design with long fuselages and large delta wings delta wings are those you know like in the shape of a triangle like you see on the concord the main difference between the two was the engine layouts north american had six engines in a semicircular duct under the rear fuselage while boeing had separate podded engines on pylons below the wings on august 30th 1957 the air force deemed both designed satisfactory and competition between the two was initiated with requirements for a cruising speed of max 3.0 to 3.2 an over target altitude of 21 to 23 000 meters a range of up to 16 900 kilometers and a gross weight not to exceed 220 tons on december 23 1957 the north american proposal was declared the winner and a month later a contract was issued in february 1958 the bomber was designated the b-70 with an x added to signify that it was an experimental aircraft another contest was held to give it a real name and of the 20 000 entries received valkyrie was chosen the air force approved a 18-month program acceleration in march 1958 which scheduled the first flight for december 1961 and in early 1960 a drawing of the xb70 was released to the public by north american while the americans may have been forgiven for thinking that everything was running smoothly they certainly wouldn't have it all their own way developments in service-to-air missiles in the soviet union would cause a serious headache even before the xb70 had been completed the xb70 was of course designed to fly very high and very fast two factors that made it virtually impossible for interceptor jets to provide air cover but the 1950s had seen a dramatic improvement in surface-to-air missiles and with the downing of a u2 spy plane over the soviet union in 1962 the americans suddenly realized this height and speed would not make them invincible for the first time there was a real discussion over the benefits of low altitude bombing runs over high altitude it was found that the sa-2 missile which had downed the u-2 had a minimum altitude of roughly 610 meters which is about 2000 feet below this it was technically flying unguided before the radar system began to track it and then guide it towards the enemy aircraft in theory staying below this altitude meant that the bombers could not be tracked by the missiles then there was the radar systems themselves flying close to the ground often means radar struggles to pick up an aircraft essentially hiding it among the terrain what's more the benefits the xb70 had at high altitude were almost completely negated when flying at low altitude where it could only operate at mach 0.9 the introduction of the intercontinental ballistic missile in 1959 and its subsequent upgrades proved to be another damaging blow for an aircraft that was still battling its way through development the us air force was faced with an uncomfortable dilemma continue with the wildly expensive program that may produce an obsolete aircraft or bite the bullet and call it a day in december 1959 the air force made the announcement that the xb70 project would be cut and designated as prototypes with most of its subsystems being scrapped president eisenhower had a particularly withering assessment of the aircraft saying that he thought we were talking about bows and arrows at a time of gunpowder when we spoke of bombers in the missile age during the upcoming u.s election the xb70 issue became politicized john f kennedy eager to paint the republicans as weak on defense wholeheartedly backed the project and in november 1960 the xb70 program received 265 million about 2.3 billion dollars today from congress for the following fiscal year but everything changed entirely once jfk was elected the story goes that he was told the missile gap theory which claimed that high-altitude bombers could operate at a height that made them impervious to missiles was in fact just a complete illusion by this stage 800 million dollars about 6.8 billion dollars today had been spent on the b-70 but that didn't stop the new president from scrapping the program labeling it unjustifiable instead he directed the prototype which was nearing completion to be used as an experimental aircraft to explore the further feasibility of supersonic travel this led to some rather unsavory back and forths in congress where it became clear that some members were pushing for the xb70 because their districts at factories linked with the construction not because it was a worthwhile project but eventually the decision stood the valkyrie's path to being a high altitude bomber was now very much blocked in march 1961 the u.s air force reduced the production order to three prototypes which was later again reduced to two air vehicle 1 av-1 and air vehicle 2 av-2 av-1 was completed on the 7th of may 1964 with its maiden flight taking place in september av-2 was completed a month later on the 15th of october 1964. it's a little sad that this aircraft was never really put to full use because it really was a remarkable piece of engineering the aircraft was primarily constructed using stainless steel and titanium set out in a canard design meaning two small four wings that were placed further forward than the main delta wings the outer portions of the main wings were hinged and could be pivoted downward up to 65 degrees greatly improving the aircraft's directional stability at supersonic speeds the xb70 was equipped with six general electric yj93 ge3 turbojet engines creatively named each producing 28 000 pound force with an afterburner and increased thrust to add extra speed and 19900 without the afterburner force was around ten thousand pound-force less than concorde and considerably less than what bombers used today like many supersonic aircraft the xb70's nose needed to be positioned in such a way that pilots could not see the ground during landing or takeoff to compensate for this the xb70 used a streamlined visor that could move down the aircraft's nose and provide the pilots with a view of the ground the aircraft measured 56.39 metres and had a total wingspan of 32 meters which isn't particularly large in either aspect it had an empty takeoff weight of roughly 115 tons that's about the same as a blue whale but it had an absolutely mammoth service ceiling of 23 580 meters over twice the cruising altitude of a standard passenger airliner and if you care for an interesting visual that's 53 empire state buildings stacked on top of each other the xb70 only had an operational life of four years first taking to the sky on the 21st of september 1964 and completing its final flight on the 4th of february 1969 which was to the museum in dayton ohio that av-1 still sits in to this very day its first flight between palmdale and edwards air force base was actually almost a disaster one engine had to be shut down shortly after takeoff while an undercarriage problem meant that it remained in the down position for the entire flight limiting its speed to 627 kilometers an hour half of what had been planned during landing several of its wheels locked rupturing the tires and causing a small fire it's fair to say that it was a bit of a rocky start but things they didn't prove quickly av-1 went supersonic on its third test flight on october 12 1964 and surpassed mach 3 that's 3704 kilometers an hour or 2 301 miles an hour on the 14th of october 1965 reaching a final speed of max 3.02 av-2 took to the skies for the first time on the 17th of july 1965 but had a short life that would come to an abrupt end in tragic circumstances on the 8th of june 1966 at the request of general electric av2 along with an f4 phantom an f5 and a t-38 talon and an f-104 starfighter were flying in close formation for a photo shoot shortly after the picture had been taken the f-104 whose pilot may have struggled to gauge the distance from the valkyrie drifted into the xb70's wing before rolling over and exploding destroying the valkyrie's rudders and damaging its left wing ab2 went into an uncontrolled spin and crashed near barstow in california while the xb70s pilot was able to eject its co-pilot and the pilot of the f-104 died in the accident [Music] and with that tale of high-altitude tragedy we come to the end of the story of the xb70 valkyrie an aircraft that was envisioned with such high hopes and aspirations and yet one that came to a slightly flat end the valkyries never did have to choose between who lived and who died so how do we remember these supersonic phantoms which disappeared before we even really knew they were there it's easy to view the program as a failure but the truth is the xb70 fulfilled all of the requirements set out by the u.s air force in 1957 in terms of range service ceiling speed and bomb capacity it was a great success the accident in 1966 didn't help but the cause had very little if anything to do with the valkyrie the xb70's downfall was that the world was fundamentally changing even as it was in development this says more about the extraordinary speed of the development of military technology during the 1950s and 1960s than it does of a failed aircraft the power to choose between life and death was more prevalent than ever but it was now a power that lay elsewhere in other hands so i really hope you enjoyed this episode of megaprojects i made what feels like several suggestions in this video for future videos if you like those ideas please do go down in the comments and let me know thumbs up the one you like also if you thumbs up this video that would be great obviously if you didn't like it you can use the thumbs down that's what it's for but you're here at the end of the video so like i say unless you hate watch the whole thing smash that like button and as always thank you for watching and don't forget to subscribe that too [Music] you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 559,276

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Id: ydUfJ3bRww4

Length: 17min 39sec (1059 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 07 2020