First flown in 1964, the XB-70 fell victim to an increasingly hostile enviroment in which it was to operate. The shooting down of Gary Francis Powersand his U-2 spelled the end of the high altttude level bombers. The advent of the surface to air missle made this mode of attack to hazardous. The cost of 700 million bucks apiece did not help either. Those were 1965 dollars as well!!!
2 XB-70s were built, #1 suffered from many issues with the construction as a lot of the constuction methods were new and untries. #2 had better luck with construction but unfortunately it was lost in a mid-air collision. On June 8, 1966, XB-70#2 was on a photo-op mission at the request of General Electric. GE was the maker of the jet encines for the XB-70 and wanted some formation pics with the Valkyrie as well as an F-4, F-5, F-104 and a T-38. All five of the aircraft had GE engines. The photo shoot had just finished when the F-104 rolled inverted over the top of the XB-70 and crashed into the twin tails of the XB-70. NASA's Chief Test Pilotl Joe Walker flying the F-104 and Carl Cross the XB-70's co-pilot were both killed in the crash. Al White the XB-70s pilot was able to safely eject from the stricken Valkyrie.
The #1 XB-70 soldiered on in test flights to the limits of it's abilties till early 1969 when it was retired. The #1 XB-70 is on display at the National Musuem of the united States Air Force. So on with the pics...
First up the head on pic. Note the size of the crew compared to the aircraft, aye carumba!!!
The XB-70 taking off with it's 6 jet engines roariing.
Wheels up the XB-70 heads for the wild blue yonder
The XB-70 in formation with a T-38 chase plane.
The XB-70 crusin at altitude. Note the wing tips are folded down to help with stability.
To close out the Saturday Sortie a good pic of the underside of the Valkyrie.
And as a closing note I have a picture of the Great Wall of the Daughter. All cleaned up and with some grass even growing. We are all done till this spring when we will get the fence installed on top.
Well I hope everybody has a great week and we will dsee you next weekend.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
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