After my induction physical during the Cuban Crisis in October 1962 I went to the Air Force recruiter in Paterson, NJ. In his office was a model of the XB-70. A plane that looked like it came straight out of star wars. The XB-70 program was started in the 1950s to replace the B-52 and North American built two prototypes. The program was cancelled in 1961 for a number of reasons. The two aircraft built were used in supersonic test flights from 1964 to 1969 performing research for the design of large supersonic aircraft, i.e. the American SST. This program was also cancelled due to environmental and other concerns. We saw the landing of the maidenflight of the XB-70A #1 on 21 September 1964 during Commanders Call where the aircraft blew some tires of the main gear and the landing gear caught fire. The XB-70 was made obsolete before its first flight by the A-11, later used as the SR-71 which used more exotic materials and innovations. One of the XB-70 crashed following a midair collision with a F-104 on 8 June 1966 during a photo flight requested by General Electric. Specifications: Crew: 2 Length: 185ft 10 inches Wingspan: 105-ft. Height: 30ft 9 inches Max. takeoff weight: 550,000 lbs. Powerplants: Six General Electric YJ93-GE 3 afterburning turbojets with 28,000 lbs thrust each Max. Speed: Mach 3.1 - 2,056mph (3,309m/h) Cruise Speed: Mach 3.0 Service ceiling: 77,350-ft. (23,600m) The XB-70 was constructed with honeycomb stainless steel material and titanium was used only at high temperature areas such as the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer, the nose and the air intakes. The drooping wing tip panels were lowered at high speed as much as 65 degrees to increase stability, and the aircraft had canards, small airfoils in front of the wing that also increased the aircraft stability. This picture was taken at the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio in May 1981 and later scanned. Thank you for viewing and commenting on my uploads and a special 'Thank you' to those that may have added some of them to their favorites, Sig... Note: When I took these pictures with a little Olympus camera I had no idea that I would post these pictures 27 years later, scanned no less. I had no idea that I would own a computer, gee I didn't even know what a PC was lol!!!!!!!!!!!!