XB-70 Valkyrie: The Ride to Valhalla - Softcover

Remak, Jennette; Ventolo, Joseph A.; Ventolo Jr., Joseph A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0760305552 ISBN 13: 9780760305553

Publisher: Zenith Press, 1999

Synopsis

This is the complete story of the XB-70 Valk yrie, from its promising future as the most likely successor to the B-52, through its abandonment after 15 years of deve lopment. '

About this title

From the Author

The XB-70 was the technological wonder of its day.
The XB-70 "Valkyrie" wasn't just an airplane, she was a technological work of art. Although only two examples were flown, the Valkyrie meant something special to the thousands of people who worked on her. An airplane, after all, is more than just a complex mechanical assembly made from a collection of expensive parts all flying together in tight formation. Somehow airplanes seem to acquire qualities of spirit and soul from the human beings who design, build, and fly them. No wonder so many people have a strong attachment to the big, beautiful XB-70 displayed at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Even though the Valkyrie represented a quantum leap in the aeronautical technology of the 1960s, her development as a strategic bomber was halted by the politicians and "bean counters" of the day, even before her first flight. Development work already bought and paid for would be revived many years later, but at a much greater cost to the taxpayers. XB-70 Valkyrie: The Ride to Valhalla uncovers many details of Valkyrie's development that were little known until now. The book also reviews much of the intense political wrangling that led to her ultimate demise.

The book also attempts to dispel some myths about the Valkyrie that have grown up over the years. For example, the B-70 program was not killed as a result of the mid-air collision between the second XB-70 and an F-104 in 1966. Neither was the B-70 program terminated due to the success of the the super-secret A-12 / SR-71 advanced spy plane program. Another myth is that the XB-70 was just a military predecessor of the Concorde SST. In fact, the XB-70 and the Concorde had very little in common except that they were both painted white.

While intending to write primarily about the XB-70 program in greater depth than had been done before, the authors also sought to point out how the American system, while certainly better than any other, sometimes is its own worst enemy when it comes to scientific and technological advancements. The result is the repeated "reinvention of the wheel" with its resultant waste of technological advantage and immense cost in human and financial terms.

Edition details

• Publisher: Zenith Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0760305552
• ISBN 13: 9780760305553
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Number of pages: 128