Word: seasickers
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...Valkyrie is sometimes known as Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent "because of technical problems and its droopy, attenuated profile" [May 13]. Now wait just a darn minute! What the heck! Makes a sea serpent sore! When they run into technical problems on my network TV show, I'm known as the XB-70 Valkyrie...
Sometimes known as "Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent" because of early technical problems and its droopy, attenuated profile, the 2,000-plus-m.p.h., 225-ton plane was originally intended to be an intercontinental bomber but was later rejected for that role. Instead, only two were built, and they have served as an invaluable flying test bed for the myriad technical problems involved in developing a supersonic transport. The second and better-equipped of the two Valkyries also tested to the utmost the nerve and ingenuity of its pilots on a recent routine flight...
...then it was dubbed Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent, not only because of its long, subtly curving fuselage and odd little canard wing, but because of its unenviable test record. On its first test last October, a brake locked on landing, sending up a spectacular shower of sparks and flame. Six subsequent tests were not much more impressive...
...long, subtly curving fuselage, the strange little canard wing tacked on near the nose, the great, boxlike maw of the engine air intakes have all combined to earn North American's XB-70A the mildly derisive nickname, "Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent." But as it taxied out onto the runway at Palmdale, Calif., last week, Cecil seemed to come alive with new dignity. That single plane designed to cruise at three times the speed of sound may be all that is left of the Air Force dream of big supersonic manned bombers, but all by itself...
...there will be many other cautious flights before the B70 starts its lifework: exploring the swarming problems of a Mach 3 airliner. And if such a passenger plane ever goes into service, much of the credit will go to the technological innovations that were first tested by Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent...