Meg inadvertently posts a link to a site about the XB-70. I’ve been fascinated by this aircraft for years (reaches for anorak) – designed at the height of the Cold War, it flew at supersonic speeds by riding on top of its own shockwave (the wingtips fold down to ride on the cushion of the shockwave), the intention being that it could “deliver” a nuclear bomb to Moscow from very high altitude, and yet be halfway back to West Germany before it hit the ground. Awesome. But what is most fascinating is that there was a passenger version planned, which would have been around three times faster than Concorde (if my memory serves me well, around 2000mph!) and quite a lot bigger.
Of course it was scrapped, for three reasons – the tragic accident that is documented at the site, the fact it was costing billions of dollars (probably enough to feed the entire third world for a year) and also the advances in missile technology which allowed a small, disposable “vehicle” to do the same job at a fraction of the cost.
The remaining aircraft is in a museum in Dayton, Ohio, and apparently is still capable of flight – now that would be something to have a go at!
separating the wanted from the unwanted