NAA B-70 Valkyrie Variants Article by Tony R. Landis

[overscan (PaulMM)]

https://media.defense.gov/2020/Nov/23/2002540204/-1/-1/1/B-70%20VARIANTS.PDF

This is nice

 

[archipeppe]

Way Coooool!!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Archibald]

Oh one million thanks for that gem !

6B-7 0 V A L K Y R I E V A R I A NT S : A F U T U R E T H A T N E V E R W A S . . Left: Some vehicle types, such as the Martin SV-5 lifting body suborbital test vehicle, required only forward and aft fair-ings instead of a full enclosure.Below: Lockheed built the RM-81 Agena originally for the WS-117L reconnaissance satellite program. After WS-117L split into three separate programs, the Agena became an upper stage booster and satellite carrier. Launching the Agena from a recoverable booster such as a B-70 would save significant cost over the large, disposable rockets of the era.

I nearly fell from my chair, reading that part.

It is the exact pitch of the sci-fi / techno-thriller I've been writting for quite a long time.

"Air launch Agena NRO spysats" rather than using Thor, Atlas or Titan boosters.

I even did calculations for a B-70 - Minuteman - Agena 3-stage vehicle. It would have send 4000 pounds or more, into orbit.
- B-70 is reusable
- Minuteman stage 1 can be recovered, Shuttle SRB style
- Agena IS the spysat (Corona, Gambit, Quill...)

9.81*270*ln((23000+7200+2200)/(2300+7200+2200))
+9.81*335*ln((7200+2200)/(274+2200))
+2000
= 9084 m/s
4800 pounds (2200 kg) into orbit.

 

[Archibald]

My favorite so far
- A parafoil B-70
- A VSTOL B-70
- Supersonic refueling B-70s

Wow. Dope was good, in the 60's ! WTH were they smoking back then ?

 

[Foo Fighter]

It was a different time then, you could find all kinds of mold spores in carpets back in the day.

 

[Archibald]

I knew they planned to land dumb rocket tin cans through parafoils. But a freakkin' B-70, even without kerosene ??WTF ?

And F-100, too. Much less a surprise. After all they launched some of them on a ramp with a huge rocket in their rear ends.
Hence the french expression "se sentir pousser des ZELL" (runs for cover)

 

[jsport]

All The Crazy Proposed Variants Of The B-70 Valkyrie Super Bomber

The different adaptations of the B-70 included recon planes, tankers, transports, and even motherships to launch hypersonic vehicles and spacecraft.

www.thedrive.com

 

[moin1900]

A Look Back… NAA B-70 Valkyrie Variants – A Future That Never Was…
By Tony R. Landis
PAGE: 16
- B-70 AMERICAN SST RESEARCH TESTBED
"PROPULSION TESTING AND INFLIGHT SPACE SIMULATION"

B-70 ENGINE TESTBED (NUCLEAR, TURBOJET, RAMJET, PULSEJET, ROCKET, SOLAR ENGINE, IONIC ENGINE)

 

[BigD]

I know it's an absurd long shot, but this makes me wish Jenkins and Landis would put together a revised and expanded edition of their Valkyrie: North American's Mach 3 Superbomber. Even 20 years later, it's still one of the best single-aircraft technical histories I've ever read, and it includes information on the F-108, high-energy fuels, planned offensive and defensive systems, and the inner workings of the Valkyrie that I haven't seen anywhere else. Unfortunately, I don't think Dennis R Jenkins has anything in the works as of late.