XP67_Moonbat
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Some time ago, one of the threads on here delved into the topic of the XB-70 used as a recoverable booster (a.k.a.-the RBSS)
On that thread a link provides has an image of the XB-70 RBSS: http://www.strange-mecha.com/aircraft/Prototype/USAF-PB1.htm
So a few weeks ago I see Valkyrie, by Dennis R Jenkins and Tony Landis at Barnes and Noble. In it is some proposal art work from early in that program showing the XB-70's use a first stage. The book said this proposal dated from Feb. 1966.
Not having the funding for that book (school supplies aren't cheap), I broke out a pencil and my trusty notebook and got sketching as best as i could. I later went in and redid the drawings in ink. Bear with me. They are hand-drawn.
The first image describes the XB-70 launching an "Agena" though the booster is of a strange triple-barrel design I'd never seen before.
The second image is the XB-70 launching a Gemini capsule (plus an adapter of some kind), and what looked to me like another triple or a double-barrel booster stage.
The third is of the the XB-70 releasing a Minuteman ICBM modified with a 3-fin tail cone. The note about the launch cradle is my own addition.
And just for kicks I'm throwing in the RBSS artwork from strange-mecha.com because of it's similarity to the images I saw in the Jenkins/Landis book.
Moonbat
PS- I erroneously wrote at the top of my notes that the book was by Steve Pace.
On that thread a link provides has an image of the XB-70 RBSS: http://www.strange-mecha.com/aircraft/Prototype/USAF-PB1.htm
So a few weeks ago I see Valkyrie, by Dennis R Jenkins and Tony Landis at Barnes and Noble. In it is some proposal art work from early in that program showing the XB-70's use a first stage. The book said this proposal dated from Feb. 1966.
Not having the funding for that book (school supplies aren't cheap), I broke out a pencil and my trusty notebook and got sketching as best as i could. I later went in and redid the drawings in ink. Bear with me. They are hand-drawn.
The first image describes the XB-70 launching an "Agena" though the booster is of a strange triple-barrel design I'd never seen before.
The second image is the XB-70 launching a Gemini capsule (plus an adapter of some kind), and what looked to me like another triple or a double-barrel booster stage.
The third is of the the XB-70 releasing a Minuteman ICBM modified with a 3-fin tail cone. The note about the launch cradle is my own addition.
And just for kicks I'm throwing in the RBSS artwork from strange-mecha.com because of it's similarity to the images I saw in the Jenkins/Landis book.
Moonbat
PS- I erroneously wrote at the top of my notes that the book was by Steve Pace.
. Here's that XB-70 thread from a while back.
