Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 2/16/04 7:08:36 PM, Greg writes: << The XB-70 Valkyrie was a truly spectacular looking and preforming aircraft! Certainly in the same league as the Concorde and the SR-71 Blackbird. You should be very proud to have been involved in its development! >> The XB-70 was intended to be a rapid response bomber during the Cold War. It was designed to fly at 3 times the speed of sound (twice the speed of the Concorde) for several thousand miles, penetrating the Russian air space and returning to a US base. However, before the plane was deployed, missile technology advanced to the point where it proved more cost effective than the horrendously expensive XB-70 and the project was terminated. Only 3 of the XB-70s were built. One crashed during a photo op when the chase plane got too close and collided with the bomber. Another was used as a high altitude research aircraft for several years, then scrapped. The third, and only remaining XB-70 is on display at Wright-Patterson AFB in the Air Force museum. I got to fly in the research version of the airplane once. It was noisy, crowded in the jump seats provided, and an extreme rush. Naturally, I was not allowed to bring a camera. Not even my brand new Leica M3. Larry Z - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html