The Ride of the Valkyrie

摘要

When Strategic Air Command drew up its B-70 plans a half-century ago, the Valkyrie was projected to become the centerpiece of the most advanced fleet of manned bombers ever assembled. The North American aircraft boasted a sleek, sculpted beauty, while it was still massively powerful, the largest aircraft ever to attain the speed of Mach 3. Yet this dream was not to be. The Air Force never did acquire the huge fleet of B-70s that it so plainly coveted. The Pentagon in fact bought only two. The program was done in by its own ambitious goals, with the technological envelope pushed too far, too fast. What's more, the B-70 was based on an operational theology—fly faster and higher—that became obsolete in the 1960s.