XB-70A Valkyrie Crash Site

 interesting place, aircraft crash site

On 8 June 1966, aircraft number two was flown in close formation with four other aircraft, an F-4, F-5, T-38, and an F-104, for the purpose of a photo shoot at the behest of General Electric, manufacturer of the engines of all five aircraft. With the photo shoot complete, the F-104 rolled inverted, passed over top, and struck the Valkyrie, destroying the rudders and damaging the left wing. The Valkyrie entered a spin and crashed following the mid-air collision. NASA Chief Test Pilot Joe Walker, piloting the F-104, and Carl Cross, copilot aboard the XB-70, were killed in the crash, while Al White, the XB-70's pilot, successfully ejected.

The exact cause of the collision is still debated. While the pilots involved were experienced, formation flying with different aircraft types is more hazardous than formation flying with aircraft possessing similar flight characteristics. The smaller F-104 could have been caught by the complex airflow around the larger Valkyrie's wingtip, and encountered turbulence which pulled it into the collision. Lt. Colonel Joe Cotton, the USAF's Chief Test Pilot for the XB-70, flying a T-38 in the formation, has speculated that Walker, unfamiliar with flying in formation with such a large delta wing aircraft, lost reference to his position relative to the XB-70, and simply closed up the formation until the T-tail of the F-104 struck the Valkyrie's wingtip. Chuck Yeager has also gone on record to echo this position.


Also see: www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/XB-70_crash_site.htm

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz-b05dQ430