#xb70

The XB-70 Valkyrie had an extremely large airframe; the YF-12 was not small, being 107 feet long. But if you compared the two, the Blackbird looked small.

The YF-12s took the seventh through ninth slots on the A-12 assembly line; these were designated as YF-12A high-altitude Mach 3 interceptors. Before the SR 71 was developed, the YF-12 was built by the Skunk Works at Lockheed. The B-70 was a Bomber that could sprint to Mach 3. It could not hold the sprint like the YF-12 could.

The main changes involved modifying the A-12’s nose by cutting back the chines to accommodate the huge Hughes AN/ASG-18 fire-control radar initially developed for the XF-108 with two infrared search and track sensors embedded in the chine leading edge, and the addition of the second cockpit for a crew member to operate the fire control radar for the air-to-air missile system. This airframe could easily fly Mach 3.

As told by Donn A. Byrnes and Kenneth D. Hurley in their book Blackbird Rising: Birth of an Aviation Legend, they were both being tested at Edwards AFB at the same time, so naturally, they hung out at the same bar after work. One of the local watering holes was called Hernandez Hideaway.

YF-12 test pilots, often flew at Mach 3 more often than the XB-70 would do in a lifetime.

Jim Eastham had just about enough of the bragging he heard daily about the XB-70. Eastham was a Lockheed test pilot who had already flown the A-12 and was now flying the YF-12.

One evening at the bar Al White of the XB-70 program was raving about his high Mach numbers when Eastham couldn’t stand it any longer.

He turned to White and said, “Al, we do more Mach 3 times in a single YF-12 mission than you guys have flown in your entire program”

Al looked at Jim, and without missing a beat, he said, “Yes that’s true, Jim, but we lose pieces that are bigger than what you fly!! Their friendly banter was hilarious! ( never did these two aircraft race against each other that’s an artist interpretation)

Linda Sheffield

xb70 b52