Only Surviving XB-70 Valkyrie Gets Brief Day in Sun at Air Force Museum.
While she once flew at Mach 3, the last time the only remaining XB-70 Valkyrie super bomber was in motion she moved at less than a walking pace. At the beginning of October the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, had to briefly move the only remaining North American XB-70 Valkyrie outside for display maintenance.
The museum’s media staff shot some exciting video of the breathtaking aircraft as she was gently towed outside while museum workers rearranged some displays in the museum’s newest fourth building gallery, the Research and Development (R&D) Gallery.
The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was the most ambitious super-bomber project of the Cold War, but was plagued by issues until it was eventually consigned to service as a research aircraft until it was retired to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in February of 1969. The massive six-engine bomber was initially displayed outside, but was moved to an indoor gallery in October 2015 for display in the new building in early 2016.
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Public Affairs liaison for the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Rob Bardua, told TheAviationist.com that, “The museum is in the process of redesigning several galleries in the fourth building in order to create a more cohesive and open space for new temporary exhibits, and more compelling exhibit storylines. As part of this redesign, the XB-70 was pushed out to the edge of the ramp and pulled right back in on the same day – it was only outside for a few hours and no preparations or maintenance was done.”
The move clearly created some very rare and spectacular visuals of the XB-70, and the museum’s media team did a fantastic job of making these videos showing the towing of the massive bomber outside and a bonus look at the interior of the aircraft.
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, is the largest military aviation museum in the world, with over 360 fascinating vehicles, aircraft and missiles in addition to thousands of unique artifacts on display over a massive 19 acres of indoor exhibits. The museum is free to enter and hosts approximately one million visitors each year.
