[Leica] Re: B-70 axing

[ISILVERMN at aol.com (ISILVERMN@aol.com)]

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:52:48 -0400, Lawrence Zeitlin 
<_lrzeitlin@optonline.net_ (mailto:lrzeitlin@optonline.net) >  wrote:

"For a new and beyond the state of the art  airplane...        ...the Air 
Force  museum at Wright- Patterson field in Dayton."
 
Larry,
 
Thank you for one of the most clear, concise tellings of the XB-70 saga  
that 
I've come across.  I've made a point of saving a copy for my  records.
 
I entered the aerospace industry too late to get involved with the B-70  
program, although early in my career I was with the GE Aircraft Engine Group 
and  
did see one of its YJ-93 engines being preserved for permanent display.  I  
had no trouble understanding the cancellation of the bomber program, but why 
the 
 program wasn't continued as a high speed research program is a puzzle.
 
Aside from research in high-speed aerodynamics, the XB-70 would have been a  
wonderful materials test platform. Largely constructed of titanium 
honeycomb,  
the lessons learned in titanium fabrication and especially welding would 
have 
 been quite valuable.  Not to mention testing high temperature ceramics 10  
years before the space shuttle took off.
 
I think it all comes back to the mid-air collision with an F-104 that  
destroyed aircraft #2.  XB-70 #1, the aircraft preserved at Wright-Patt,  
was 
limited to Mach 2.5.  #2 upped that to over Mach 3.  Aircraft #3,  which was 
still 
under construction at the time, would have been the first with  an unlimited 
flight regime.
 
But why should the loss of one aircraft cancel a program?
 
The pilot of the F-104 was Joe Walker, NASA's Chief Test Pilot, lead pilot  
of the X-15 program, and generally regarded as the best of the best at the 
Air  
Force Flight Test Center.  In an occupation that is fundamentally  
dangerous, 
he was the one who wasn't supposed to be killed (much like Jimmy  Clark and 
Ayrton Senna in F1 racing). I wonder if there was a prevailing mood at  
Edwards 
that if Walker could get caught in the XB-70's vortices, anyone could,  and 
the program was allowed to die.
 
Just a thought.
 
Best regards,
 
Ira Silverman
Irvine, CA
 





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