Customer Reviews

XB-70 Valkyrie: The Ride to Valhalla

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The XB70 has been a great mistery for a long time. Its secrecy was largely due to the great leap in aeronautical science when the technological race between US and former CCCP was at its peak. Designed successor to B52, the XB70 has a troubled story from the start, its fortunes were forever sealed by McNamara's will to terminate the program. The book is about the history of political tribulations at all levels (USAF comands and interservice rivalry plus adverse lobbying in the Kennedy Administration and in the Congress, the last being not enough supportive). A respectable critical survey on program managment is given, providing a chronological description of machinations that overshadowed even the final experimental program.

Many details are covered but always from the historical point of view. The volume does not provide many technical facts and it still lacks a description of the airplane engine and systems, besides a precise perfomance summary is missing. The most important facet is the conversation record of the crash (XB70 ship AV002 and NF104 n°813). If the reader is looking for some Washington politics insight or behind the scene work, the narrative style is remarkable, but if he is looking for technicalities he has to wait for a new release or new bunch of declassified data.

... A great book. Sometimes the authors' partisanship gets to be a bit over the top, but the book is full of interesting details, drawings, photos, and stories from cover to cover. Many of the XB-70 photos I had never seen before.

Chapter 6 which details the lose of the second test aircraft in a mindless photo-op is worth the price of the book.

This is a history, not a picture book. While photographic collections are important, they should be supplemented with meaningful history. That is what this book does. It gives previously unreported historical details, along with supporting photography. Other books can supply the additional photographic details. This book has heart. The authors have made sure that the real story is told, not just the official version. Wouldn't it have been nice if they'd been allowed to print everything they know?

I was very disappointed in this book. The book contained more about the programs that the aircraft had in the development stage but not much information on the actual flying performance. While the authors spent more time on the political ramblings that ultimately killed the program but didn't expose any of B-70's flying qualities or pilot reports. They did cover the accident involving the second prototype and the F-104 quite well. The parts break down and diagrams as well as pictures were excellent, however.

This book is about the HISTORY of the XB-70 Valkyrie. It's not about pretty pictures. It details the historical place that the XB-70 took in the realm of Mach three aviation. It explains the lessons that were learned about mach three flight and how politics prempted what could have been accomplished. A good historical read.

This book is about the HISTORY of the XB-70 Valkyrie. It's not about pretty pictures. It details the historical place that the XB-70 took in the realm of Mach three aviation. It explains the lessons that were learned about mach three flight and how politics prempted what could have been accomplished. A good historical read.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author is willing to go out on a limb and state his opinion of the experimental XB-70 & call the shots as he sees them. He is absolutely a die-hard fan of the "triple-sonic" bird (flies 3 times the speed of sound) and makes no apologies for them. The plane had promise, but was incredibly expensive, at the cutting edge of technology, would have been expensive to maintain and in the end, may have been vulnerable to Soviet missiles.

The book is softbound, but high glossy paper, lots of photos, some in color. There are 127 pages in this book, so it will not satisfy everyone - but - there are line drawings, diagrams of the plane from the manufacturer, photos of the plane during all phases of building. The photos are small, but clear & crisp. Tthe chapters about the crash of the 2d prototype, the last flight of the lone survivor and its trip to the Wright Patterson Air Force museum in OH are especially interesting. There is even a bibliography at the end.

The length & detail of this book were perfect for me. I did not want to spend a fortune on a book on an experimental plane, but was curious about this technological leap of aviation in the 1960's. Recommended for aviation enthusiasts, history buffs, students of what might have been.

It's 2007. Why has no one yet written the definitive history of this program? This book provides some general information on the development, politics and 2nd prototype crash, but is otherwise very brief. What can be inferred here is that the performance of the plane may have been seriously flawed or limited, hence its cancellation, but there is no data. Though many of the people involved in this plan have probably passed away, there must be a mountain of airforce records somewhere. I hope that someone manages to get access to it and give a full recount of this very ambitious effort. For now it appears that this book says the most about the B-70.

I didn't know anythng about the history of the XB-70 till I read this book. It gave me the ins and outs of the whole thing. Great book!!

As a book dedicated to such an historic aircraft there is surprisingly little information about the aircraft. There's lots of writing about the history surrounding the aircraft's development and political struggles, but almost no information about what the aircraft actually did (and couldn't do). The author spends a lot of pages blaming politicians for the cancellation of the aircraft without discussing it's significant technical problems. Compared to what is now available regarding the SR-71, the story of the XB-70 has yet to be thoroughly recounted.