The Strange Super Plane That Ripped Off Its Own Paint

Рет қаралды 61,889

2 ай бұрын

With its imposing delta wings spanning over a hundred feet merged seamlessly with a streamlined fuselage into a sleek and daunting celestial arrow, the XB-70 Valkyrie, a two hundred forty-three-ton, one hundred ninety-six-foot-long superbomber, was decades ahead of its time in the 1950s when it was brought to life by North American Aviation.
The Valkyrie’s wingtips, ingeniously designed to fold downwards in flight, lent it a predatory grace. And it was meant to be a predator: a supersonic nuclear-armed harbinger of destruction. It was designed to glide across continents to the very heart of Moscow and rain down atomic annihilation.
Soaring at Mach 3, with an operational ceiling that broke into the stratosphere at seventy-seven thousand three hundred fifty feet, the Valkyrie was untouchable. No enemy plane or defensive system could intercept it at such speeds and altitudes… In the grip of the Cold War, it stood as the ultimate trump card, an unassailable warplane.
But creating such epic aviation engineering soon spiraled into a labyrinth of challenges: technical nightmares, exploding budgets, and a relentless Soviet Union hell-bent on outpacing the United States at every turn.
As the Valkyrie stepped up to claim its destiny, however, the Soviets unveiled an unforeseen and revolutionary countermeasure that threatened to turn the entire program upside down.

Пікірлер: 69

@sgt_s4und3r54 2 ай бұрын

You can see the last surviving prototype at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton, OH. I'll be going there myself later this year.

@bearlemley 2 ай бұрын

Been there. Go to aft end and be amazed

@darrellk60daniel45 2 ай бұрын

I was there on a hurried trip and didn’t get to see everything 😢

@sgt_s4und3r54 2 ай бұрын

@@darrellk60daniel45 If you ever get the chance, make a weekend of it. Still a bit hurried but it's very much worth it. 3 days will get you more than enough. I'd probably spend 4 if I could. They have so much hiding in hangar that have yet to be touched. They'll need a 5th showroom hangar if any of that gets done.

@trekkeruss 2 ай бұрын

That museum is HUGE. I wish I had more then the few hours I had to explore. The free tours are worthwhile. I always admired the beauty of the XB-70, and seeing it in person was fantastic. I wish it was given more room (it is difficult to photograph with all the other exhibits surrounding it), and also wish there was a way to get up close to the cockpit.

@sgt_s4und3r54 2 ай бұрын

@@trekkeruss There's an app called "Cockpit 360" where they went in and photographed the cockpit in 360 degrees. It has a lot of planes besides the XB70 but if you ever wanted to see the controls then that's the best thing.

@bearlemley 2 ай бұрын

With new avionics, engines, electrical systems brought up to 2030, I would love to see this push the b21 to the back of the hanger.

@jimburig7064 2 ай бұрын

North American Aviation has built some impressive aircraft.

@sidefx996 Ай бұрын

That’s an understatement. And to think how long ago they were building them

@smark1180 2 ай бұрын

That Ripped Off Its Own Paint Not exactly. The paint peeled because of too-thick paint, the result of several re-paintings - allegedly done to impress various VIPs. It cracked as the Valkyrie flexed in flight, and was then torn away by the airstream. It was stripped and repainted with a single thin coat of white paint, thus resolving the issue.

@waltonwarrior7428 2 ай бұрын

I’ve been to Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum where the last remaining XB 70 is housed. To stand under that airplane and realize how big it really is was thrilling. It is a uniquely beautiful airplane. Nothing like it before or sense. Perhaps the SR 71 Blackbird would come closest to matching its unique striking design.

@sgt_s4und3r54 2 ай бұрын

I've been there several times myself. Even before they made the "Experimental Hangar". Going again later this year. This plane is always how I end my visit.

@kellywright540 2 ай бұрын

Yes, I have been there myself and it is pretty awesome. To me, it has a strange mix of beauty and ungainliness, depending on what angle you are viewing it from. Now that's just my opinion. The fact that it can haul ass negates the ungainliness though...

@oxcart4172 2 ай бұрын

Imo, an astonishingly beautiful aeroplane

@harryschaefer8563 2 ай бұрын

imagine being on the development team, and then being told: "never mind".

@user-jz4vh4cq3w 2 ай бұрын

😢

@user-zy4tg9tz3l 2 ай бұрын

The u.s. air force had never given promission for the G.E. photo shoot, that claimed two life's and one nonreplaceable aircraft

@smark1180 2 ай бұрын

"It also featured an 11-stage axial flow compressor with variable stators and a two-stage axial turbine, contributing to its impressive thrust-to-weight ratio above 5 to 1. This high thrust-to-weight ratio means the engine could deliver over *five times more thrust than the weight of the aircraft,* ensuring exceptional acceleration and agility." False. The 5 to 1 ratio was engine thrust to the engine, not aircraft, weight.

@NeroontheGoon 2 ай бұрын

Free ice cream if you can tell me what became of the YJ-93 engine project. After the cancellation, what did Pratt&Whitney do with these engines?

@smark1180 2 ай бұрын

@@NeroontheGoon I'm unaware of anything that became of the "project." The only thing I'm aware of is some kind of emission tests. I'm not aware of any involvement with them by P&W.

@NeroontheGoon 2 ай бұрын

@@smark1180 Geez, if been working on Pratts for so long I’m calling GE’s Pratts too, my apologies. The YJ-93 was a scaled up version of the J-79 and also lent its core to the GE CF6 series turbofan engines.

@robertedwards7749 2 ай бұрын

It's not that the XB-70 ripped off her paint. It was a simple case they could not find any paint that could hold on as fast as the 70 could fly. In short the plane out ran her paint. :-)

@user-dm1jw1gy5q 2 ай бұрын

My favorite aircraft

@bettyswallocks6411 2 ай бұрын

Pity it was never deployed. The Valkyrie always reminds me of a Crested Grebe.

@jamesretired5979 2 ай бұрын

I saw it at Rantoul before it went to the museum.

@barryking5993 Ай бұрын

The Closet We Ever Came To Designing Our Own UFO’s But We Weren’t Technically Competent At The Time

@MrDino1953 Ай бұрын

Not Every Word Needs A Capital Letter. Did You Not Go To Primary School?

@scotshuthats5268 Ай бұрын

Awesome Technology for that Time.😊

@T-tr6ql 2 ай бұрын

loved this

@LuciFeric137 2 ай бұрын

Built of stainless steel honeycomb

@A.R.77 2 ай бұрын

I can't help but think the Valkyrie would have been a golden platform to build our SST off of. Many issues had been resolved by the time the Valkyrie was cancelled. This could have given us a jump on Concord. However, the market fell off and the economics of the SST were no longer a money maker. I wonder what an SST built off of this platform would have looked like in it's completed phase.

@shenmisheshou7002 2 ай бұрын

The B-70 program was cancelled 3 years before the first one flew and the only reason the two XB-70s were finised was for high-speed research, but the XB-70 itself would not be even close to what could be used for an SST, and no proposed SST was derivative of the XB-70.

@ArneChristianRosenfeldt Ай бұрын

@@shenmisheshou7002All SST are huge delta wings with a lot of engines in rectangle nacelles. All have some aerodynamic elements in front of the delta wing. Looks similar to me.

@shenmisheshou7002 Ай бұрын

@@ArneChristianRosenfeldt The F104 looks similar to the French Mirage, but that does not mean one came from the other. The only SST to enter service did not have the same kind of delta wing as the SB-70 and was not a canard wing. The Boeing 2707 -300 design used a delta wing but it was not a pure delta, and neither was the Concorde wing a pure delta. Both of these designs (and the Boeing 2707 design preceded the Concord, though of course the 2702 was never produced) used an “ogival” wing and they are the only two supersonic designs that I know of to use ogival wing. So, the only production SST to fly had a ogival delta and did not use a canard, did not use drooping wings, had a single tail, and used two clusters of two engines, but before the XB-70, there were plenty of aircraft in operation that were pure deltas and if you make a bigger supersonic airplane, the delta is a natural choice. Many large supersonic aircraft use some form of delta, or wings that can be configured into a delta. F-111 and B1B are both planes that can be configured into a delta (F-14 could as well). The first US Delta test plane was the FX-92, which was designed in 1948.

@ArneChristianRosenfeldt Ай бұрын

@@shenmisheshou7002 I was hinting at the fact that a Canard has a similar effect as ogival wings or leading edge extension. Tu-144 originally had a single cluster of engines under the wing. And it flew at the airshow. The single tail got too hot. Instead of a twin tail like on XB-70, they split the cluster. Why? I think it is still a notable result that even with at a large scale a super sonics planes cannot profit from being a Busemann biplane to capture the shocks. Or you could think that you could make the straight wings of the F-104 work because you have more space to manipulate the leading edge.

@tedsmith6137 2 ай бұрын

That footage at 5:30 is nothing to do with a nuclear engine. It is the test running of the XLR99 rocket engine inthe X-15 research plane. Just before the thing blew up.

@drewzamir9516 2 ай бұрын

Nuclear platforms in space

@randybentley2633 2 ай бұрын

To show you how ahead of time NAA was, the Aerospace company Hermeus is developing an ever-improving series of test aircraft that will end up in the creation of a supersonic airliner that has been designated as the Halcyon. The artist's rendition of the aircraft looks like a modern-day version of the Valkyrie in almost every aspect.

@bobd9193 2 ай бұрын

@6:12, Was the left rear brakes on fire? It sure looked like it.

@oxcart4172 2 ай бұрын

Yep! A brake jammed on after its first flight.

@BooDevil65 2 ай бұрын

@9:02 Thrust-to-weight ratio is thrust vs weight of the ENGINE, not the plane (20,000 / 4,000 = ~5x)

@ChookyChuck 2 ай бұрын

Error at 9:15, where it is state the aircraft has a 5 to 1 thrust to weight ratio... that 5 to 1 ration must be engine thrust to engine weight ratio not aircraft thrust to weight ratio. Such a glaring error makes me think this video is AI generated. Modern Fighters have thrust to weight ratio's greater than one when lightly loaded. I calculated the XB-70 to have 0.33 thrust to weight ratio. TECHNICAL NOTES: Engines: Six General Electric YJ93s of 30,000 lbs. thrust each with afterburner Maximum speed: 2,056 mph (Mach 3.1) at 73,000 feet Range: 4,288 miles Service ceiling: 77,350 feet Length: 185 feet, 10 inches Height: 30 feet, 9 inches Weight: 534,700 lbs. loaded

@reho7387 2 ай бұрын

Really enjoyed your video. Did not know that the XB-70 even existed...until now.

@davidsmith3736 2 ай бұрын

There is such a thing as public transport.

@truthteller50 2 ай бұрын

NAA was the top….and now no more. 😢

@Fightfuryfilms Ай бұрын

245,000 pounds wow

@MrDino1953 Ай бұрын

What’s that in more sensible units?

@donaldsiaczka9494 2 ай бұрын

Big deal my paint rips off my 04 gmc at 55 mph

@smark1180 2 ай бұрын

Cue the "My grandfather worked on..." comments.

@simonchaddock4274 2 ай бұрын

Surely the demonstrated performance of the Mig 25 had as much to do with the B70 bomber cancellation as the missile threat.

@_stardust62 Ай бұрын

243 tons?...that seems awful heavy for a flying machine but idk? 🤷‍♂️

@KevinSills 2 ай бұрын

That's why the USAF was so nervous about the Canadian Avro Arrow project, with requirements from the Canadian Air Force for an operating ceiling of 75,000 feet, Mach 3.5, and outfitted with two Iroquois engines producing 30,000 ibs of thrust each, a fuselage made primarily of Titanium, a bombay suitable for 12 different configurations including guided missiles (they were already designed and tested). The American government lobbied the Diefenbaker government to cancel the program, and it did, the day became known as Black Friday when over 10,000 Canadians lost their jobs and 6 Avro Arrows were cut up on the tarmac; but, a 7th example of the completed aircraft outfitted with the first set of new Iroquois engines, and painted in all white, with no identifying markings, escaped and flew non stop to the U.K., where at one of their airbases, it was disassembled and used in research for future projects such as the Vulcan heavy bomber. Proof of this came back in the 90's when the pilot's ejection seat and one of the Iroquois engines were offered back to Canada by the U.K., and now sit in the National Aerospace Museum in Ottawa. The co-pilot's seat became available on Ebay, and sold for over $250,000 CDN, while the second Iroquois engine now resides with a collector in Calgary, Alberta, who purchased the engine from a British Museum where it was in storage. One of the cockpits was saved from the scrap yard and sits in the museum in Ottawa also. The Avro Arrow will rise again..........in this life or the next, or maybe a time travelling grandfather can go back and prevent it's demise...........that would make the Americans shit their pants!!!

@amazeddude1780 2 ай бұрын

I'm a time travelling grandfather, and you won't believe what we will be making in 70 years!

@robertedwards7749 2 ай бұрын

Oh I believe what we will be making in 70 years, I just don't believe that your a time traveling grandfather. :-)

@truthteller50 2 ай бұрын

Go to Dayton, OH and see the one that’s left. Massive!!

@HighFlyer96 2 ай бұрын

Great video, but whatever audio enhancer, eqalizer or filter setting you're using, it's pure torture for my ears and leaves me exhausted halfway through.

@donkeyslayer9879 Ай бұрын

Well, they're not going to assimilate to you.

@ewingtaylor5487 2 ай бұрын

The "predatory" drooping wing tips had a very practical purpose. The droop allowed the XB-70 to ride on top of its own supersonic shock wave, saving fuel and energy. The Concorde, minus the d.w.t., was essentially a rip-off of the Valkyrie.

@ArneChristianRosenfeldt Ай бұрын

A lot of supersonic planes bent down their tails after take-off to avoid tail strike.

@drewzamir9516 2 ай бұрын

Sorry like launching things