Fast as the SR-71, big as a B-52, able to carry nukes, cruised at 80,000 feet at Mach 3. The SR-71 had two engines generating 34,000 lbs of thrust each, whereas the XB-70 had SIX engines generating 32,000 lbs of thrust each! It "surfed" the sonic boom shock wave allowing it to decrease its thrust yet maintain Mach 3!
Only two of those made is that right? I thought one crashed and I have touched the other. It's at WPAFB in Dayton.
The SR-71 was orignially designed as a Mach 3 interceptor, the YF-12A.
What an orgasm it would have been to have entire Wings of F-12 interceptors and B-70 bombers.
During the B-70 wind tunnel testing they found instability at high speeds and discovered that the entire plane produces a shock cone starting at the nose tip. The wing tips of the plane were into the shock cone and were causing the instability. So they fixed the problem by tilting the wing tips so they would be inside the shock cone during high speed runs. You can see the hinge lines in your picture, though the wing tips are extended straight out in this pic. At high speed the wing tips canted down about 20-30 degrees.
XB-70 had SIX engines generating 32,000 lbs of thrust each! It "surfed" the sonic boom shock wave allowing it to decrease its thrust yet maintain Mach 3!
The Valkerie(I know that's not correct spelling) was one awesome plane. It hurts to watch that episode of wings
A cool plane indeed. The B-1 would be the grandson of the XB-70, as a supersonic bomber, though not as fast-- with a bit of stealth tech added.
And a cool photo of two guys sitting inside an XB-70 Valkyrie's intake duct:
