page_title: North American XB-70 Valkyrie
section_title: Aircraft on display
hierarchical_section_title: North American XB-70 Valkyrie / Aircraft on display
caption_attribution_description: English: North American XB-70 Valkyrie at Wright-Patterson USAF Museum - June 2016. The XB-70 now sits in the fourth hanger of the main museum.
context_page_description: The North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie was the prototype version of the planned B-70 nuclear-armed, deep-penetration strategic bomber for the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Designed in the late 1950s by North American Aviation, the six-engined Valkyrie was capable of cruising for thousands of miles at Mach 3+ while flying at 70,000 feet.
  At these speeds, it was expected that the B-70 would be practically immune to interceptor aircraft, the only effective weapon against bomber aircraft at the time. The bomber would spend only a brief time over a particular radar station, flying out of its range before the controllers could position their fighters in a suitable location for an interception. High speed also made the aircraft difficult to see on radar displays and its high-altitude and high-speed capacity could not be matched by any contemporary Soviet interceptor or fighter aircraft.
  The introduction of the first Soviet surface-to-air missiles in the late 1950s put the near-invulnerability of the B-70 in doubt. In response, the United States Air Force began flying its missions at low level, where the missile radar's line of sight was limited by terrain.
context_section_description: Valkyrie AV-1 (AF Ser. No. 62-0001) is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio. The aircraft was flown to the museum on 4 February 1969, following the conclusion of the XB-70 testing program. The Valkyrie became the museum's signature aircraft, appearing on Museum letterhead, and even appearing as the chief design feature for the Museum's restaurant, the Valkyrie Cafe. In 2011, the XB-70 was on display in the museum's Research & Development Hangar alongside other experimental aircraft. After completion of the fourth hangar at the museum's main campus, the XB-70 was moved there in late October 2015.
caption: North American XB-70 Valkyrie at Wright-Patterson USAF Museum – June 2016. The XB-70 now sits in the fourth hangar of the main museum.
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