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Re: Image comments for Can you name these planes?
Posted by: 90130_
Date: 26/07/2009 05:24PM
Mr. Kim, one of these magnificent planes, XB-70A crashed when NASA's test pilot Joe Walker's Lockheed F-104 Starfighter chase plane got sucked up over the back of the Valkyrie during a photo op by the aerodynamic vortex created by the huge plane's wingtips and tail. The Starfighter flipped upside down before taking out the vertical stabilizers and a wingtip on the XB-70.
Both planes were lost, and while XB Pilot Al White safely ejected, Co-Pilot Carl Cross was unable to escape and was killed when the Valkyrie crashed in the desert near Barstow.
Joseph Walker, the NASA pilot in the Starfighter was also killed. A very sad day in aviation history.
I've read story after story about this amazing plane and its development and test flights, and the unfortunate end to this (very expensive) program.
The sole remaining XB-70B resides at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio at Wright Field. Been there.
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