XB-70 Photo Archive
It probably flew better with dropped wing tips due to the compression lift, I read where it had the greatest lift efficiency of any fast / large aircraft.
//It probably flew better with dropped wing tips due to the compression lift//
That was the theory, but in practice the dropping of the wingtips the airplane gained more by shifting the center of pressure forward, so much less elevator trim(drag) was required to keep the airplane level. At least thats how I understand it.
Compression lift did not meet its hype other than drag reduction I would guess. Ben Rich had some good words on it.
The LA Biker B70 website, we used to have some email correspondence!
WoW - great photo!