Talk:XB-70 Valkyrie

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someone asked this on the actual page. I am just moving it to discussion Edit: the D-21 was a pilotless drone- how could it possibly best the XB-70's record of highest lift-to-drag ratio on a manned aircraft? --Mitchowen 00:56, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)

Just noticed the same thing. Dumb.A2Kafir 03:59, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Clumsy wording, but I suppose it could mean (I am guessing on this) that the XB-70 achieved the record of highest l/d of any aircraft, and the record was broken by the unmanned drone, which now holds the record. But as the article states, the XB-70 (still) holds the record for manned craft. -- Paul Richter 09:59, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'm 98% sure that it should be the highest for any *supersonic* manned aircraft. The wing trick gives an extra 22-30% lift for no extra drag, but supersonic L/D sucks to start with. I can't find a reference either way though, so I can't fix it.WolfKeeper 21:43, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Subsonic often do *much* better than this.WolfKeeper 21:43, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dihedral angle

NASA historian Richard Hallion discussed the XB-70 research program in his book "On the Frontier," part of NASA's Special Publications series. I seem to recall that the dihedral angle of #2 ship varied from that of #1 by about 2 degrees, after flight tests with #1. This helped #2 fly faster. --MWS 19:43, 18 August 2005 (UTC)