The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was a nuclear bomber designed for the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command in the 1950s. The Valkyrie was designed to be a large, high-altitude bomber with six engines to fly at Mach 3 to avoid defending interceptors, the only effective anti-bomber weapon at the time. The development of the Valkyrie, along with the U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance airplanes caused the Soviet Union to create the MiG-25 "Foxbat" to counter them.[2] The proposed cost of the aircraft, along with changes in the technological environment due to the introduction of the first effective anti-aircraft missiles led to the cancellation of the program. Although the proposed full fleet of operational B-70 bombers was never built, two prototype XB-70s flew in flight tests in the 1960s, performing research on the design of large supersonic aircraft. One prototype crashed following a mid-air collision in 1966, and the other is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. |
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| This is a fragment piece off of the XB-70 Valkyrie (62-0207) that crashed after a mid-air collision with one of the aircraft that was flying in close formation with it on June 8, 1966. NASA Chief Test Pilot Joe Walker Flying an F-104 and Carl Cross Co-Pilot of the XB-70 were killed. Al White Pilot of the XB-70 successfully ejected and
survived the crash. |
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