XB-70A Valkyrie First Flight

Posted by HysteronProteron1@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 32 comments

September 21, 1964 — Palmdale Flight Test Facility, Palmdale, California to Edwards Air Force Base, CA.

First flight with Chief Test Pilot Alvin S. White and Colonel Joseph F. Cotton at the controls.

[-]

aviation-ModTeam@reddit

Your post has been removed for breaking the r/aviation rules.

All media must either be original content or correctly attributed to the proper source. Additionally, they must be actual photographs or videos in line with our mission statement - “anything that sustains you in the air”.

Reasons why your content may not be allowed: - No low quality content where the main subject is not easily discernible (excessively blurry, out of focus, too far away, etc) - No flight simulator posts - No memes, troll posts, or image macros - No pictures of plane models - No drawings or computer-generated imagery - No altered, fake, and/or photoshopped images - No AI content

If you believe this was a mistake, please message the moderators through modmail. Thank you for participating in the r/aviation community.

[-]

Cesalv@reddit

* Wagner intensifies *

[-]

Rocko3legs@reddit

Can't be footage of the first flight in 1964, that's AV-2 noted by the 20207 tail number and black painted area under the cockpit. That plane's first flight was July 17, 1965.

[-]

BrewCityChaserV2@reddit

So this is probably footage from that airframe's first flight?

[-]

0------------------0@reddit

When you encounter inconsistencies like this in 2026, the most likely reason is one of the many pieces of AI-generated or modified content that is flooding Reddit and other social media.

[-]

Rocko3legs@reddit

Could be. I'm not sure without digging up the background on this video. Either way, one of my favorite planes and I love the attention it has gotten on this sub today.

[-]

EmotioneelKlootzak@reddit

Am I crazy or does this footage feel like watching some kind of little scale model diorama? I wonder if they had it a bit tilt shifted or something.

[-]

AgroAlbaV2@reddit

I heavily suspect it's some sort of AI upscaling, or interpolation, or denoising that has polished the absolute shit out of every frame so that it's pretty and smooth and devoid of any minor details.

[-]

0------------------0@reddit

This video purports to be the unclassified footage of the XB-70A’s first flight. Not that it is not the same video or even same plane as the on this post’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVOQiY00ZLE

I unable to find an actual source for the video in this post and nobody has been able to provide a link yet.

[-]

BrewCityChaserV2@reddit

Cleaned up film footage from the 1950s/1960s has been undertaken long before AI was even an idea in someone's head.

[-]

0------------------0@reddit

So what? If you have a link to the actual source, then share it.

[-]

Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

AI slop.

[-]

0------------------0@reddit

Redditers are downvoting because apparently now they love pretending that AI fiction is real.

[-]

HamasDaddyOnFire@reddit

Its because this is footage from Firefox.

[-]

Telepornographer@reddit

I think it feels that way because (at least in the second shot) they're using a very long lense so there's not much distortion. As such it almost looks like we're watching a miniature airplane take off.

[-]

under_psychoanalyzer@reddit

Might be that a lot of movie footage from that era involving scaled diorama had the same type of grain and resolution. Combine that with there's almost nothing to compare the scale of it in this.

We probably don't see dioramas used for movie props as much anymore not just because its easier to do CGI but because with the quality of video you would notice the imperfections that give them away.

[-]

Green_Fan_8925@reddit

Especially the last 5 seconds of the clip. It appears as though it's approaching a stall flying only in the x axis. Like it's hanging by wires

[-]

0------------------0@reddit

What is the actual source of this video? I’m unable to find it anywhere else so far. Another video purporting to show unclassified footage of the XB-70A’s first and second flight is not the same: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVOQiY00ZLE

[-]

artigas33@reddit

You can see this beast at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio at the Wright Patterson AFB. The place is huge, took me two days to see it all.

[-]

demzrdumez@reddit

AI slop

[-]

TheonetrueKringle@reddit

it's all engines - where did the bombs go?

[-]

BrewCityChaserV2@reddit

The XB-70 was simply a technology demonstrator (e.g. let's see how fast as fuck you are and we'll worry about the payload later)

[-]

steelmanfallacy@reddit

Just read a biography of Lockheed’s skunkworks and Kelly Johnson. The Valkyrie was rendered worthless while on the drawing board as soon as the SAMs were catching up faster than planes could be designed for higher speed and altitude.

[-]

come_ere_duck@reddit

We were robbed of this aircraft. It could very well have been a heavy bomber as fast or faster than the SR-71 and they decided it was no longer needed and not to mention they crashed an F-104 into one of them during a photo op.

I'd pay to see that big bird fly again.

[-]