Valkyrie by Dennis R. Jenkins and Tony R. Landis

Price approx. $49.95CDN

Even though it has been over 40 years since the North American XB-70A Valkyrie first flew, it is still one of the most amazing and exotic aircraft to have ever taken to the skies. It remains to this day the largest aircraft to have flown Mach 3 (over 500,000 lbs.), and the data generated from its flight test program is still being used by designers. This amazing plane was a product of its time, the ultimate expression of "bigger, faster, higher, further." I am not convinced that we will see another aircraft like the XB-70A for a long time. Fortunately, the sole remaining XB-70A prototype is preserved at the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton. Anybody who sees the Valkyrie in the flesh cannot help but be impressed by its size, power, and beauty. Regardless of the fact this plane never entered service, it remains a tribute to the technological prowess and innovation that the American aerospace industry had in spades during the 1950s and 1960s. It's no surprise that this plane is a product of the same company that built the X-15 and the Apollo Command Module.

This is a book I have waited a long time for. As soon as I got my hands on Dennis Jenkins and Tony Landis' Hypersonic, I dreamt of a book like that about the XB-70 program. Lo and behold, they olbiged, and I am not disappointed. This book is certainly the definitive history of WS-110A, the weapons system that became the Valkyrie. The book is more than that, however. To fully tell the story of the B-70 program, it also delves into the F-103 and F-108 Mach 3 fighter programs and WS-125A, the nuclear-powered bomber program. While none of these programs produced finished airframes, all played a role in the creation of the B-70. Incidentally, the only significant typo in the book occurs at the end of chapter 2, where a paragraph about B-70 budget cuts ends in mid-sentence.

After an in-depth discussion of the gestation of the B-70 (including several pages of concept drawings of various proposals by Boeing and North American showing some of the most exotic aircraft ideas I've ever seen - including a 16-engined "super B-52"!), the book examines the aircraft structures and systems in depth, including General Electric's J-93 engine and the innovative escape pods. The complexity of this aircraft becomes apparent while reading this.

This is followed by an exhaustive examination of the flight test program that the XB-70 prototypes undertook over four years, including a number of minor accidents and incidents that occurred along the way to sustained Mach 3 flight. The tragic June 8, 1966 mid-air collision between an F-104 and the XB-70A-2 is discussed in depth, with many photos of the collision and its aftermath and a reproduction of the entire Summary Accident Report.

An unexpected bonus is a chapter on the weapons systems, both offensive and defensive, that the B-70 would havebeen equipped with had it entered squadron service (if only!). Finally, appendices list data on all 129 flights that the XB-70s undertook, data on the people that flew the Valkyrie, a pilot's perspective of hte XB-70, lessons from the XB-70 that could be applied to a supersonic transport (including drawings showing the B-70 design modified to seat 76 passengers), interesting facts about the B-70 (great for useless trivia at parties - like the fact that the XB-70's engines at cruising speed pumped as much air as 6,230,000 people breathe, or that, at Mach 3, the XB-70 produces as much horsepower as the aircraft carrier USS America!), and notes and citations from the text. A comprehensive package about an experimental plane if ever there was one.

This is a gorgeous book. The physical quality (binding, pages, and printing) is superb, and the photographs are very clear and vivid. The text is well-written (almost scholarly, with plenty of references to primary materials), yet quite clear and engaging. One can learn a great deal about the challenges of designing for high-speed flight by reading this book, and one cannot help but gain a great appreciation for the magnitude of the accomplishment of North American's engineering team.