In an era of fantastic and futuristic aircraft, the North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie stood out as one of the most awe-inspiring. On June 8th, 1966, this extraordinary aircraft led a photo-shoot ...

Tragedy struck on June 8, 1966, when the second XB-70 prototype was destroyed in a crash after a midair collision with its F-104N chase plane. Two people were killed and one was severely injured ...

With the growing realization that Soviet SAMs posed an increasing threat to American bombers, the Pentagon started to explore low-level penetration as an alternative. Low-level penetration involved ...

During the Cold War era from the late 1940s to the early 1990s, the skies above Southern California’s Mojave Desert served as a testbed for the newest, biggest, fastest and deadliest military aircraft ...

-Engineered to "ride" its own shockwave for fuel efficiency, the massive bomber was a technological masterpiece. However, its development coincided with the dawn of the "missile age." -The rise of ...

Five years before Concorde’s first flight, another majestic supersonic aircraft took to the skies — and almost became the inspiration for an even faster passenger plane. It was the XB-70 Valkyrie, an ...

It took just three seconds last June for the U.S. to lose two ace test pilots and more than $700 million worth of aircraft when the Air Force’s XB-70 Valkyrie, a supersonic flying laboratory, collided ...

From the first of the 95 flights made by the Air Force’s two XB-70 Valkyrie bombers since 1964, the mighty, 2,000-m.p.h. experimental craft has been gremlin plagued. On Valkyrie 1’s maiden flight, a ...