Introduction

The XB-70 was a prototype for the proposed B-70 bomber designed to penetrate Soviet air defenses and drop a nuclear payload on behalf of the Strategic Air Command.  The XB-70 can trace its roots all the way back to “General Operation Requirement #38” that proposed a new bomber that embraced the best traits of the B-52 (Primarily Range) and the B-58 (Speed).  The proposed aircraft would have to be capable of speeds between Mach 3.0 and Mach 3.2 with a ceiling at or above 70,000 feet and a range of over 10,000 miles.  North American won the contract in late 1957 and the number B-70 (XB-70 for this experimental version) was assigned to the project, with the popular nickname Valkyrie being assigned through a competition.  Soviet technological advances in the surface to air missile department caused many problems for the proposed B-70, and led to the program’s cancellation in 1961.  The two partially built prototypes were both finished and made the type’s first flight in 1964.  They were used for research and study of supersonic flight, specifically large supersonic aircraft, propulsion systems and aerodynamics.  The XB-70s provided invaluable data that was used in the design of the B-1A and B-1B Lancer.  The second XB-70 (XB-70A-2 S/N 62-0207) was tragically lost in a mid air collision with an F-104 during a photo shoot mission to advertise the GE engines that all aircraft in the formation used.  The XB-70’s crew ejected, but the F-104’s pilot perished in the accident.  After the accident the first XB-70 (XB-70A-1 S/N 62-0001) continued flying research missions (33 more flights) before being transferred to NASA in 1967 where it flew on until its retirement in 1969.  The first XB-70 is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

WingsWare is a newcomer to the FS Addon market.  The XB-70 is their first release with numerous other high performance aircraft in development.  Their design philosophy is to provide a detailed and accurate representation for both the interior and exterior of the aircraft while preserving frame rates.  Many developers have achieved this goal…for those of us who run supercomputers capable of displaying 10,000,000+verticies, did this newcomer to the FS Development community achieve their goal, read on to see!             

Installation and Documentation

I acquired the XB-70 through a special press link, and what I understand to be a slightly different installer, so I have nothing to report as far as the installation goes.  The documentation for the XB-70 is pretty good with decent presentation (I love the spiral binding on the cover), but not the best I have seen.  The manual is a single HTML document containing sections for History, Technical Data, Performance, Panels (Labeled Screenshots of all panels and subpanels), Procedures (Startup, preflight, autopilot, shutdown), Images, and Credits.  The manual is an extremely valuable resource when learning to fly the Valkyrie as the cockpit is a sea of switches and old fashioned steam gauges.  I found myself keeping it open in flight multiple times early in testing before I memorized procedures and the location of critical switches.        

First Impression

Keeping with flight testing tradition, I first took control of the XB-70 at Edwards Air Force Base and I was immediately impressed.  Being a huge X-Plane fan, I was already familiar with the XB-70 and I am pleased to report that this representation was spot-on.  I started up this beast of an aircraft (Engine 1, 2/3, 4/5, and 6 due to the FSX four engine limit) and taxied out to runway 4.  After obtaining clearance from Edwards tower, I taxied onto the world’s largest runway, advanced the throttles.  The XB-70 is not a fighter, so it took quite a bit of the legendary runway 4 to become airborne, but in under 20 minutes I was screaming through the upper atmosphere at mach 3.1 (With my hair on fire of course).

Interior

My first glimpse of the XB-70’s interior (VC) came after “boarding” the aircraft in the hangar at Edwards, and I was immediately impressed.  The gauges are modeled in 3D, and the VC as a whole really makes me feel like I’m riding a very high performance aircraft from the era.  The cockpit is (From comparing it to pictures of the real XB-70) is very authentic, with literally hundreds of 3D renderings, from the gauges to the switches on the overhead, and the “dragable” radio tuning knobs seemingly no detail has been overlooked (Save for the textured on screws, not that this is any issue seeing as you should be keeping an eye on the gauges as you tear through the stratosphere at mach 3+).  The copilot’s panel (including the right side armrest panel) is also functional and gives owners the option of flying from both sides of the cockpit (Or sharing the XB-70 with another owner for some long range attacks on your favorite target).  Very little detail was held back on the purely cosmetic aspects of the VC either, as even the air conditioning/ram-air vents are modeled. The texturing on the switches, indicators and instruments is quite well done, though maybe a touch on the soft side.  The XB-70’s cockpit is very interesting as it bridges the gap between old fashioned round, mechanical steam gauges and more modern flat panel displays.  Though all the gauges are mechanical, they are beginning to resemble what would eventually become the modern glass cockpit (The triple vertical tape airspeed indicator to the left of the attitude indicator and the altimeter/vertical speed indicator to the right of the attitude indicator are prime examples).  The panel background looks a bit too pristine, but I do not know for sure how well the XB-70’s panels were maintained, so that is just speculation.  The press package that I got with the XB-70 did give me a bit of information about the development of the XB-70, and addressed some of the things I saw in the VC, as WingsWare is currently experimenting with “Vector Graphics/Textures” that have a lower file size while sacrificing a bit of detail.  For me (Running a low end computer as far as FSX is concerned) this was a great choice in development, and I can’t wait to see where this technology is going!  The Valkyrie is the first aircraft released by WingsWare with this set of design guidelines, and they plan on providing even more detail on their future releases.  The press pack claims that the VC on the Valkyrie is lacking “realism of materials”, and this is true to an extent, though does not really intrude on flying from or looking at the VC unless you are searching for it.  An example is that the glare shield is slightly reflective, though the main panel is not, and the glass on the gauges also seems to be lacking a glossy shine.  An interesting feature from the Valkyrie is the adjustable nose-ramp.  The ramp is similar to the Concorde’s famous drooping nose, though on the Valkyrie only the windscreen and a small portion of the top of the nose cone move.  The non-transparent nose section droops down, and increases the angel of the windscreen to give a better view while on the ground (and at high angles of attack on initial climbout).  Once you are up to a reasonable altitude, the ramp is extended, giving the nose a lower drag shape allowing the XB-70 to reach higher speeds.  The ramp is a really cool animation to watch from inside the aircraft, as the entire cockpit seems to transform as you get a better view of the runway below: Very Cool!  I found the VC to be a great compromise of detail and performance; in fact I expected poor frame rates after I first saw the VC.  So far so good for this new kid on the FS Developer block. 

Exterior

The Valkyrie is undeniably one of the most easily identifiable aircraft of all time thanks to its drooping wingtips, sleek fuselage and massive underwing compartment to house the six huge engines needed to propel it to speeds in excess of mach 3.  WingsWare did a spectacular job of replicating the real XB-70’s distinct shape, in all three wingtip positions.  My first glimpse of the exterior was directly from the front in the hangar at Edwards, and I was glad to see that it matched up with pictures of the real Valkyrie from the same angle that I have perfectly.  The beefy, complex, and tall landing gear stood out as being well detailed, and as I soon found out, the unique retraction cycle also is executed perfectly.  The textures on the exterior of the XB-70 look good, not great, but good.  The vector textures used in the VC are carried over to the exterior, and the file sizes are small while sacrificing a bit of detail.  There is a bit of weathering on the bottom of the engine bay, and I think that the limited weathering is probably realistic as the XB-70s were probably treated better than newborn babies.  Even with the lower file sizes, I was still able to read the instructions for the rescue panels clearly, as well as My only true grip as far as the exterior texturing goes is that the aircraft seems to be purely white in some (large) areas (With no recessed lines or so much as a hint of dirt) when viewed in sunlight.  I find that it looks a bit unrealistic, but is not that big of a deal.  Also, the textures seem to be a bit too reflective, but this may be more of a personal perception, check the screenshots to decide for yourself. I really missed FSX native features such as bump mapping on this model as they would have complimented the textures well and shifted a bit of my focus off of the small flaws in the texturing.  All the usual animations are present on the Valkyrie as well as some that are unique to this amazing aircraft. 

The wing tips folding down is a really cool sequence and is well executed as far as animations go.  The XB-70 looks good from every angle in every wing tip configuration, but with the ‘burners cooking and the tips down at 65° she has an elegant yet menacing form ripping through the skies at extremely high speeds.  The “dumbo ears” speed breaks are animated as well, with the trailing edge panel deploying downwards when speed brakes are selected.  To aid with controllability at high speeds, the XB-70 has trailing edge elevons split into six semi-independently controlled sections per side (Two on the moveable wing tips and four on the non-moving section of the giant delta wing).  On this model however, only the four inboard segments move, and they move as one unlike on the real Valkyrie.  My guess is that this is an FSX limitation so again, no big deal (Much like the wingtip contrails floating out at the maximum wingspan of the XB-70 despite the tips being down at 65°).  The XB-70 used drag parachutes in combination with the speed brakes when on the ground, and they are modeled as well.  On the ground, the ‘chutes are deployed by a lever on the throttle quadrant shortly after touchdown and help the aircraft slow down in lengths under that of the legendary runway 4 at Edwards, which at times was over 36,000 feet long!  All six of the engines had animated exhaust petals that moved in sequence with changes of power settings.  I did miss the animation of the flaps however, as no matter what the flap position indicator in the cockpit said, I could not find any differences with the external model whatsoever (Though I did not even know that the real XB-70 had flaps in the first place other than the canards just aft of the cockpit).  When staring down the XB-70 in spot view, I was pleasantly surprised that I could see all six engines turning inside the “box”.  Even the ducting surrounding the massive turbojets was modeled, though I do not think enough light would reach them in the real world, it was still cool to be able to see during preflight exterior inspections.  Despite the small flaws that I found, the exterior of the Valkyrie is still very well done, and replicates its real world counterpart extremely well.           

Effects

Panel

WingsWare includes both a 2D and 3D (VC) panel (As well as 2D popups for the VC) for the XB-70.  I flew nearly 99% of my time in the XB-70 in the VC, though I did fly the 2D for a bit to fulfill my duty as a reviewer.  The 2D panel is nearly as complete as the VC, though visibility is restricted even more than the VC.  The 2D just does not look as good as the VC, but is functional, and improves frame rates by decent amount (From 20+ to 25, probably higher than 25 but I keep mine limited at 25 to prevent computer crashes).  The 2D popups proved more useful to my flying than the full 2D panel, in particular the Autopilot panel, and the GPS.  Even though GPS was not around when the XB-70 flew, I found it to be a good substitute for a chase plane, Edward’s air traffic controllers and flight test personnel, and if the XB-70 ever had become the B-70: Cheyenne Mountain or Air Force One.  To be fair, I could have (and on many occasions did) use the nav radios, however constantly tuning different VORs while exploring the edge of the XB-70’s operating envelope without the help of a copilot and two mission specialists proved to be a bit too difficult at times.  A radio 2D popup is provided, but I chose to use the click and drag type controls in the VC.  Even though it shaves off a few frames per second, I (and probably 90% of FSX users) prefer to use the virtual cockpit to fly, in some cases with the aid of 2D subpanel popups.  With ever evolving technology such as vector textures, I think that the days of the 2D cockpit are becoming increasingly numbered, though they are a nice feature to have in cases of low performance computers.              

Virtual Cockpit Views

Sounds

The sounds are definitely the low point of this package, as they are aliased to the default 737-800.  I feel that this is a poor decision by the developers and really taints an otherwise amazing aircraft.  To be fair though, I did not really think about the default sounds after the first few minutes of flying.  Sounds for the XB-70 are impossible to obtain though, as there are none in flying condition.  Still, there has to be an aircraft with sounds more representative of a mach three bomber/research aircraft than the world’s most popular airliner…

Airfile/Flying

As you now know, no XB-70s are currently flying, and only a very small group of pilots with “The Right Stuff” were ever able to strap in to this amazing aircraft; Unfortunately, I am not one of them.  From the research I have done, the airfile is not as accurate as I would have liked, though its flaws can be seen as improvements over the real thing, as they make the aircraft more fun to fly.  The XB-70 is a very heavy aircraft (Gross Takeoff Weight of nearly 300,000 pounds!) and despite its high top speed, is actually extremely slow to gain speed on takeoff.  The huge delta wing can be a monster in ground effect, and the aircraft will not climb above a few feet until speeds of roughly 180 knots.  Once off the ground the Valkyrie accelerates slowly but surely until the aircraft is cleaned up (flaps, and gear up, nose ramp in the raised [streamlined] position).  After stowing the gear, the XB-70 accelerates rather rapidly (Not as fast as a fighter, but not as slow as, say, a 767) to mach 3.1 at altitudes of around 70,000 feet.  Once up to speed the Valkyrie is quite stable and fun to fly.  In reality, the XB-70 was not an aerobatic aircraft, or even permitted to pull negative g’s, but in this simulation, the XB-70 handles more like a fighter than the Concorde.  As with many aircraft in FS, I was able to perform unrealistic maneuvers; given enough airspeed an altitude such as aileron rolls (not to be confused with a barrel roll, which if performed correctly is a one g maneuver that can be performed by nearly every aircraft).  I was also able to perform somewhat unrealistic high g turns.  Even though the real XB-70 was limited in its aerobatic/high G capability, given enough speed the aircraft is capable of extremely high rates of climb (exceeding 10,000 feet per minute in some cases) en route to its very high cruising/attack altitudes.  The pivoting wingtips provide the XB-70 the ability to ride its own supersonic shockwave.  The extended center divider of the Valkyrie’s engine “box” As the XB-70 approaches transonic speeds, the wingtips are lowered to the 25° (1) position and the shockwave from exceeding the speed of sound begins to provide more lift.  Approaching mach 1.5, the tips are once again lowered, this time to the 65° (2) position. 

A most distinctive shape on final approach

The Valkyrie keeps climbing at very high rates (Well over 5000 fpm) to cruising altitude while surfing on its own mach shockwave increasing fuel efficiency by requiring less thrust to maintain cruise speed.  Flying at high rates of speed still requires a lot of thrust, and the Valkyrie’s six engines are up to the task (Controlled as four engines in FSX).  Climbing to altitude with full afterburners burns up a lot of fuel though, and neglecting to keep an eye on the fuel gauges (the large screen on the Copilot’s side of the cockpit) resulted in loosing all six (Four) engines on my first cross country flight.  Had it become operational, the XB-70 would have certainly been capable of aerial refueling, so I attempted to “steal” some fuel from some airliners cruising 40,000 feet below me.  I pulled back the throttles and pushed foreword on the yoke, and descended to the cruising altitude.  I found that the engines in the Valkyrie spooled up a bit slower than I initially thought, and their slow reaction made it a bit difficult to maintain “contact” position.  I did my best to hold position behind the airliners for between 5 and 10 minutes, and rewarded myself with a fill up from the Aircraft à Fuel and Payload menu.  After mastering refueling, it was time to learn how to land this beast of a bomber.  Decent in the Valkyrie requires you to pull back the throttles and nose down until you find thicker air.  Approaches are a bit difficult as even with the nose ramp, foreword views are quite limited.  Compounding the lack of a decent view is the Valkyrie’s difficult approach characteristics.  The massive delta wing requires you to fly a higher and faster approach than normal to keep control (Which becomes extremely slow, unresponsive, and mushy under 250 knots).  Despite the higher altitudes and speeds, the Valkyrie needs to be slowed down a lot to get it on the ground, as the wing floats a lot in ground effect.  Touchdown usually occurs in the 150 knot range, and as heavy as the Valkyrie is, a lot of drag is needed to slow it down.  A combination of drag ‘chutes, canard speed brakes, and wheel brakes is needed to get it slowed down.  Landing the Valkyrie usually took over 6,000 feet of pavement, and that is when I land smoothly enough to call it a landing (I crashed a bunch of times while learning how to land the Valkyrie as it is very different from anything I have ever flown before).  The best phrase I can use to describe flying the Valkyrie is challenging, but fun as tearing through the skies at three times the speed of sound is about as fun as it gets (Aside from Red Bull Air Racing) but the difficult low speed handling characteristics mean that you will have you hands full on initial climb out and approach.              

Performance

Thanks to the use of vector textures and other frame rate friendly features, the WingsWare XB-70 is one of the better performing addons I have on my computer.  I routinely experienced frame rates exceeding 20FPS in the VC and was pegged at 25FPS in spot view (With the afterburners off of course).  As discussed earlier, the frame rates are absolutely murdered when in exterior views with the ‘burners cooking, but I see no reason to be outside of the cockpit while climbing through thin air en route to FL700, as the stuff always hits the fan at the worst possible time. 

Summary / Closing Remarks

After flying the XB-70, my already extremely high respect (and envy) for the Edwards test pilots shot through the roof.  The plane was pleasant to fly in all flight regimes other than approach, though it was still fun in a challenging way that left you with a sense of accomplishment.  WingsWare has impressed me with this first release, thanks to a realistic and frame rate friendly aircraft that provides a unique flight experience.  I found that despite the default sounds, the package was of very high quality.  I truly enjoyed the experience of learning to fly this amazing and unique aircraft and look foreword to future releases by this revolutionary new FS Developer. 

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XB-70 Valkyrie

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