Xb 70 crash site

Author: b | 2025-04-24

XB-70 Valkyrie Crash Site . Stopped to show Wyatt the site of the XB-70 Crash in 2025. The site of Joe Walker's crashed F-104 is a mile or so to the northwest.

XB-70 Crash Site - vegashikers.com

The XB-70 Valkyrie on display at the Air Force Museum was once again towed out of its display hangar temporarily for museum maintenance recently.The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, on display along with over 25 others in the Research and Development Gallery at the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, was moved out of the fourth hangar and even got a wash on May 28, 2024.The XB-70 Valkyrie on display at the Air Force Museum was once again towed out of its display hangar temporarily for museum maintenance recently.The XB-70 ValkyrieThis is the second time in less than four years that the Air Force museum undertakes the move of the massive super bomber for maintenance. And, once again, the museum’s media team captured amazing footage of the stunning aircraft being carefully towed outside.The one on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton is the only remaining XB-70 Valkyrie super bomber.The XB-70 ValkyrieThe North American XB-70 Valkyrie was the most ambitious super-bomber project of the Cold War. This enormous six-engine bomber was intended to be the ultimate American high-altitude, high-speed, deep-penetration manned nuclear bomber, designed to fly high and fast enough to evade Soviet interceptors.Originally designed to be a Mach 3 bomber, the XB-70A never entered production.The XB-70 was the world’s largest experimental aircraft, capable of flying at speeds up to Mach 3 (approximately 2,000 miles per hour) at altitudes of 70,000 feet. The XB-70 measured about 186 feet The American supersonic transport (SST) program.However, on June 8, 1966, XB-70 62-207 was involved in an incident, when it collided with a civilian-registered F-104N during a General Electric company publicity photo shoot over Barstow, California, near the Edwards Air Force Base test range in the Mojave Desert. The aircraft were flying in formation with a T-38 Talon, an F-4B Phantom II, and a YF-5A Freedom Fighter.As explained in a previous post here at The Aviationist:Towards the end of the photo shooting NASA registered F-104N Starfighter, piloted by famous test pilot Joe Walker, got too close to the right wing of the XB-70, collided, sheared off the twin vertical stabilizers of the big XB-70 and exploded as it cartwheeled behind the Valkyrie. North American test pilot Al White ejected from the XB-70 in his escape capsule, but received serious injuries in the process. Co-pilot Maj. Carl Cross, who was making his first flight in the XB-70, was unable to eject and died in the crash.The root cause of the incident was found to be wake turbulence: wake vortices spinning off the XB-70’s wingtip caused Walker’s F-104N to roll, colliding with the right wingtip of the huge XB-70 and breaking apart. As explained in details in this post, wingtip vortices form because of the difference in pressure between the upper and lower surfaces of a wing. When the air leaves the trailing edge of the wing, the air stream from the upper surface is inclined to that from the lower surface, and

XB-70 Crash Site (18)

On 8 June 1966, Al White and Maj. Carl S. Cross took AV-2 up on a flight to make 12 subsonic airspeed calibration runs and one supersonic test. Afterwards, the XB-70 was scheduled to rendezvous with a contingent of jet aircraft, all powered by General Electric engines, for a public relations photo session. The other aircraft included a Northrop YF-5A (59-4898) flown by GE test pilot John M. Fritz, a Northrop T-38A (59-1601) piloted by USAF Capt. Peter C. Hoag with Col. Joe Cotton in the rear seat, a McDonnell F-4B (Bu.No. 150993) flown by USN Commander Jerome P. Skyrud with E.J. Black in the back, and Lockheed F-104N (N813NA) flown by NASA chief research pilot Joseph A. Walker. A Gates Lear Jet flown by H. Clay Lacy, loaded with photographers, recorded the event.It was Walker's 13th XB-70 chase flight and took place just two days before he was scheduled to make his first flight in the XB-70 itself. In this case, he did not perform chase duties during the test mission itself. After the number two XB-70 had completed its test activities, Walker (in NASA 813) joined up in formation near the bomber's right wingtip.Rendezvouz began at 0827 hours with the aircraft arranged in a V-formation. The Lear Jet was positioned about 600 feet out and to the left of the formation. Walker's F-104N was off the starboard wing of the XB-70. The photo session lasted from 0845 to 0925. Suddenly, at 0926, the F-104 collided with the Valkyrie's right wingtip. The F-104 rolled inverted and passed over the XB-70 shearing off the bomber's tail fins.The F-104N burst into flames, disintegrated, and fell towards the desert 25,000 feet below. Walker was killed instantly. Several seconds later, the XB-70 tumbled out of control and began to break apart, impacting 12 miles north of Barstow. The F-104 fell two miles northeast of the XB-70. The cockpit section fell half a mile northwest of the fuselage. It was the blackest day in the history of Edwards Air Force Base.A motion picture camera had recorded all events until just before the collision, and then picked up again shortly afterwards. There were also numerous still photos of the accident sequence. The images showed that the F-104 pitched upward from its position in the formation, tearing through the XB-70's right wingtip. From there, the F-104 rolled inverted as it passed across the top of the XB-70, shearing off both of the ship's large vertical tails. By this point, the F-104 was in several large pieces and trailing a ball of fire from its ruptured fuel tanks.General Electric chief test pilot John Fritz, flying on Walker's right wing in the YF-5A, saw nothing amiss prior to. XB-70 Valkyrie Crash Site . Stopped to show Wyatt the site of the XB-70 Crash in 2025. The site of Joe Walker's crashed F-104 is a mile or so to the northwest.

XB-70 Valkyrie Crash Site

Helical paths, or vortices, result. The vortex is strongest at the tips and decreasing rapidly to zero nearing midspan: at a short distance from the trailing edge downstream, the vortices roll up and combine into two distinct cylindrical vortices that constitute the “tip vortices.The pilot of the XB-70 ejected and landed serious injured. The co-pilot of the XB-70A and the pilot of the Starfighter were killed.The incident is one of the most famous and tragic accidents in military aviation as there are photographs of the mid-air collision.North American XB-70A Valkyrie just after collision. Note the F-104 is at the forward edge of the fireball and most of both XB-70A vertical stabilizers are gone. (U.S. Air Force photo)The XB-70 Valkyrie plummets to its death near Edwards AFB in .(Photo: USAF)Moments after the XB-70 crashed. (USAF)Research activities continued with the first prototype, with NASA’s first flight on April 25, 1967, and the last flight on February 4, 1969. During its career the XB-70 collected in-flight data to aid the design of future supersonic aircraft, both military and civilian. The main goals of the Valkyrie flight research program included studying the plane’s stability and handling characteristics, evaluating its response to atmospheric turbulence, and assessing its aerodynamic and propulsion performance. Secondary objectives involved measuring noise and friction from airflow over the airplane and determining engine noise levels during takeoff, landing, and ground operations.This photo shows the XB-70A parked on a ramp at Edwards Air Force Base in 1967. The B-70 offered little performance improvement over the B-52 it was meant to replace and was much more expensive with a shorter range.The Valkyrie cockpit.Some fascinating variants of the aircraft were proposed, including carrying an Alert Pod, serving as a Supersonic Refueler, or functioning as a Recoverable Booster Space System (RBSS).Drawings of the Alert Pod and a prototype of the pod in the background of a mockup of the XB-70. (Photo via Air Force Materiel Command History Office)The B-70 program was canceled in 1961, but development continued as part of a research program to study the effects of long-duration high-speed flight with the two XB-70A prototypes.XB-70A number 1 (62-001) made its first flight from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base, CA, on September 21, 1964. The second XB-70A (62-207) first flew on July 17, 1965. The latter differed from the first prototype, having an added 5 degrees of dihedral on the wings as suggested by NASA Ames Research Center wind-tunnel studies.The XB-70 looks like an alien spacecraft from this angle. (Image credit: USAF)While 62-001 made only one flight above Mach 3 due to poor directional stability past Mach 2.5, the second XB-70 achieved Mach 3 for the first time on January 3, 1966, and successfully completed a total of nine Mach 3 flights by June that same year.XB-70 Night Take-off. (Photo via Air Force Materiel Command History Office)A joint agreement between NASA and the Air Force intended to use the second XB-70A prototype for high-speed research flights in support of

XB-70 Valkyrie Crash Site - Wikimapia

North American XB-70 Valkyrie. Photo courtesy of NASA Loaded up, the XB-70 was more than a half-million pounds of pure sex appeal. With a six-pack of afterburning GE YJ-93 engines, wingtips and snout rigged to droop---the former for speed, the latter for slower speeds---the supersonic beauty-70 looked like it was busting Mach with the parking brake set and chocks snugged around the tires.It was a doomed design before North American even started cutting metal. The design was born from the Curtis LeMay school of logic that preached speed and altitude were a bomber's best defense. But before it even flew, missiles brought it down, figuratively at least. As evidenced by the Soviets' shootdown of Francis Gary Powers' U-2, altitude was no longer a defense, and as technology improved, missiles could track faster and faster targets.Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy argued for the design while campaigning for the White House, and the Air Force issued a contract for a dozen airframes in early 1960. Later that year, President Kennedy got briefed on missile capabilities and the Valkyrie's associated weakness, and the order was slashed to three vehicles to be used for high-altitude, high-speed research. North American built and flew two of these birds, AV-1 and AV-2. AV-1 suffered plenty of teething issues associated with the construction process---North American was pioneering the use of stainless steel-skinned honeycomb structures, and more than once, AV-1 landed with panels missing that had peeled off at supersonic speed. AV-2, suffering significantly fewer structural issues, took flight and topped Mach 3. Construction of AV-3 was never completed.No longer destined to be a high-altitude supersonic bomber, the XB-70 was now a flying laboratory. As researchers played with advanced aerodynamics, Washington pulled back the curtain for an aeronautic peepshow that astounded many---including the Russians, who reportedly designed the budget-busting Mig-25 Foxbat with the XB-70 as inspiration.No longer a fighting aircraft, the XB-70 became a showpiece instead, though that visibility wound up killing the program. A formation photo flight in June of 1966 ended in tragedy. The speedy giant was flying in formation with an F-4 Phantom, an F-5, a T-38 and an F-104. After the photographers got their pictures, the F-104, flown by NASA Chief Test Pilot Joe Walker, got caught in the vortex off the XB-70's right wingtip and was snapped up and across the Valkyrie, clipping both vertical stabilizers and the left wing. Walker died at the

XB-70 Crash Site 2 med

The collision. After the impact, the XB-70 continued in straight and level flight for 16 seconds as if nothing had happened. Someone got on the radio and shouted, "Mid-air, mid-air, mid-air!" Colonel Joe Cotton, riding in the back seat of Captain Pete Hoag's T-38, called frantically to the XB-70 crew. "You got the verticals came off, left and right. We're staying with you. No sweat. Now you're looking good." But, the giant ship rolled ponderously to the right and entered an inverted spiral. As it shed parts, fuel poured from its broken right wing. Cotton and the others began shouting for the stricken crew to eject. "Bail out. Bail out, bail out!"After some difficulty, Al White ejected in his escape capsule. Maj. Carl Cross, possibly incapacitated by extreme g-forces, was less fortunate. Additionally, a seat retraction mechanism failed, making automatic encapsulation impossible. He remained trapped in the stricken jet and died when it struck the ground.The accident investigation board determined that once the horizontal tail of the F-104 came up under the wingtip of the XB-70, it was caught in the wingtip vortex from the bomber. The F-104 lost its trim and pitched up violently, rolling inverted across the top of the bomber. The accident board concluded that the swirling wake vortex only became a contributory factor in the accident after the F-104's tail was so close to the XB-70 that a collision was imminent.Why was the F-104 close enough to touch the XB-70? The investigation board postulated numerous theories. Walker had a reputation as a fine test pilot and a levelheaded professional, dedicated, and safety conscious. He had nearly 5,000 hours of flight experience and had flown chase for the XB-70 nine times, eight in an F-104. It was hard to imagine that lack of formation proficiency or some lapse of judgement could have led to the disaster. In the end, the leading theory held that Joe had become distracted somehow and had caused the F-104 to move slightly, imperceptibly, toward the XB-70.During the course of the flight, ground controllers had alerted the formation to the presence of other air traffic in the area. An Air Force F-104D, a two-place aircraft with a photographer in the back seat had received permission to join the formation for a few pictures before returning to Edwards after a separate mission. Don Sorlie, the pilot of the F-104D later reported that the formation looked good, although the two aircraft on the left were not flying as close as the F-104 and the YF-5A on the right. This indicated that Joe was flying a close wing position. Shortly before the collision, Edwards reported a B-58 approaching the formation. It would pass high above, in. XB-70 Valkyrie Crash Site . Stopped to show Wyatt the site of the XB-70 Crash in 2025. The site of Joe Walker's crashed F-104 is a mile or so to the northwest. The XB-70 Valkrye crash site and memorial

XB-70 crash site - The Tactical Air Network

In length, stood 33 feet high, and had a wingspan of 105 feet.Three drag chutes were needed to slow down the landing roll of the XB-70. (Image credit: Reddit edit The Aviationist)The aircraft’s distinctive planform featured two canards behind the cockpit and a large triangular delta wing with hinged outboard sections for improved high-speed stability. Designed by North American Aviation (later North American Rockwell and eventually a division of Boeing), the XB-70 featured a long fuselage with a canard or horizontal stabilizer mounted just behind the crew compartment. It had a sharply swept 65.6-percent delta wing, with outer wing sections that could be folded down in flight for better lateral-directional stability. The airplane had two windshields, with a moveable outer windshield that could be raised for high-speed flight to reduce drag and lowered for better visibility during takeoff and landing. The forward fuselage was made of riveted titanium frames and skin, while the rest of the airplane was primarily constructed of stainless steel. The skin was a brazed stainless-steel honeycomb material. The XB-70 was powered by six General Electric YJ93-3 turbojet engines, each in the 30,000-pound-thrust class, with controllable inlets to maintain efficient airflow to the engines.Two Valkyrie prototypes were built at North American Aviation before the Kennedy Administration canceled the program due to doubts about the future of manned bombers, which were believed to be becoming obsolete. The threat from Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) cast doubt on the strategic bomber’s near-invulnerability at high altitudes. In a low-level penetration role,