Born in an era of nuclear brinkmanship and Cold War paranoia, the XB-70 Valkyrie was engineered to outrun everything. Flying ...

Introducing the XB-70 Designed in the early 1960s to replace the B-52 Stratofortress, which still serves in the U.S. Air Force today, the XB-70 was retired in 1969. Only two prototypes were ever ...

The first XB-70 Valkyrie built, the XB-70A, had handling at speeds greater than Mach 2.5, and only got above Mach 3 once. So a second one was built, the XB-70B, with the wings adjusted just 5 ...

What You Need to Know: The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was an ambitious supersonic bomber designed to replace the B-52, capable of flying at Mach 3 and 70,000 feet. With six powerful engines and ...

The massive XB-70 Valkyrie is the largest and heaviest airplane ever to fly at Mach 3. The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was the most ambitious super-bomber project of the Cold War. The massive ...

The XB-70 was designed to be larger and faster than the B-52. It was 196 feet long, 31 feet tall at the tail, with a 105-foot wingspan, and powered by six turbojet engines.

Unfortunately, the XB-70 story doesn't have a happy ending. In 1966, during a mid-air photo session following a test flight, an F-104 fighter clipped the right wing of XB-70 #2.

The XB-70’s primary operational goals were complex, even by today’s standards. It had to be able to travel at Mach 3.0-3.2 (three times the speed of sound, or 2,300-plus mph), achieve an over ...

The XB-70, called the Valkyrie, has been in the Museum's collection since 1969. It's in remarkably good shape considering it spent many of those years on permanent outdoor display.

XB-70 pilot Al White was able to eject, but he sustained serious injuries. The XB-70’s co-pilot Carl Cross and NASA’s Chief Test Pilot Joe Walker (F-104 pilot) were both killed.