Originally posted by Aurora is real
it used a special fuel that was very expensive, causing people to lose interest in paying for it with the budget cuts.
- Actually this is not true.
'Zip fuel' as it was known (a high energy boron based fuel) was investigated but dropped before the XB 70 flew as it was found to be difficult to
handle, it left problematic residues and generally made maintenance a nightmare.....and then there was the whole thing about the wisdom of special
fuels for individual aircraft and the logistics thereof.
Fundamentally the X/B70 aircraft was not too dissimilar to the later Concorde; an amazing technical feat but the idea of there being a large fleet of
them - especially post fuel crisis in 1973 - was just nonsensical.
The operational logistical demands were just so exorbitant as to make cancellation inevitable.
Then along came the early promise of stealth together with a sober appraisal of likely SAM capabilities in the near future and what do you know,
program stopped.
(If anyone is interested there was also a 3rd Valkyrie ( to carry tail number #20208) which was apparantly about half way to completion at
cancellation.
Sadly it was broken up.
The book 'XB - 70 Valkyrie; The Ride to Valhalla' by Jeanette Remak and Joe Ventolo Jr is a goldmine and a recommended read if you are interested.
)
[edit on 19-5-2005 by sminkeypinkey]