Assembly model 1:144 American strategic bomber XB-70 Valkyrie Armory AR14701

The American XB-70 Valkyrie is a retired prototype version of the planned B-70 nuclear-capable deep-penetration bomber for the U.S. Strategic Air Command. Developed in the late 1950s by North American Aviation (NAA) to replace the aging B-52 Stratofortress and B-58 Hustler, the six-engine, delta-winged Valkyrie could fly thousands of miles at Mach 3+ speed, cruising at 70,000 feet. (21,000 m). It was expected that at these speeds the B-70 would be virtually immune to attack aircraft, the only effective weapon against bombers at that time. The bomber spent only a short hour over the radar station, leaving its area of operation, before the controllers could place their detectors in the appropriate place for relocation. Due to the high speed of the aircraft, it was important to see it on radar, and its altitude and speed capabilities could not be compared with those of the current Russian interceptor or search aircraft. The appearance of the first Russian air-to-surface missiles in the late 1950s cast doubt on the B-70's reliability. In response, the Air Force began to carry out its missions at low altitude, where the line of sight of the missile radar was limited by the terrain. In this role of low penetration level, the B-70 showed a slight additional productivity comparable to the B-52, which it could replace, but was richer in value with a smaller range. Alternative missions were proposed, but they were of limited scope. With the advent of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the late 1950s, nuclear bombers and their crews became increasingly obsolete. The US Air Force eventually stopped fighting for its production, and the B-70 program was cancelled in 1961. The development was then transferred to a research program to study the effects of long-term high-temperature coatings. The result was the construction of two prototype aircraft, which were designated XB-70A; These aircraft were used for supersonic test flights from 1964 to 1969. In 1966, one prototype crashed after colliding with a smaller aircraft while flying in formation; The missing Valkyrie bomber is on display at the U.S. Air Force National Museum near Dayton, Ohio.