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XB-70 Accident

Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:57 am

XB-70 Folks:

Good day!!

Does anyone in here remembers the Wix link/thread about the ultimate cause of that tragic accident over the S. Calif skies c. 1966??

I'm trying to find out the name of the NAA Chief Design Engineer c.1966 and his comments relating to the activation of the XB-70 wing tip switch to the fully down position perhaps saving the day??

Can someone else expand on this subject??

Tks in advance
Last edited by zorro7 on Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:43 pm

I just tried a new search engine called "Google". It may not be available in your area yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEP7niGqiNg

http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/XB ... h_site.htm

http://area51specialprojects.com/xb70_crash.html

x 1,000,000

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:23 pm

mike furline wrote:I just tried a new search engine called "Google". It may not be available in your area yet.

What is this "Goooooogle" that you speak of?

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:34 pm

I recall seeing a video a long time ago where an XB-70s engines blew up from starboard to port one after another. Could have sworn that it happened at the Paris Air Show, the year...got me there.

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:40 pm

1 of the f -104 starfighter chase planes accompanying the xb -70 got to close to the engine exhaust ports & literally flipped / got blown over into the aft portion of the fuselage causing a catrostrophic collision of both aircraft. i believe it occurred over mojave or edwards afb.

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:00 pm

The XB-70 did FOD two engines on it's first flight because of a screwdriver left in one of the inlet tunnels. The mid air was during a P.R. brain cramp photo op using 6 different aircraft powered by GE jet engines. Joe Walker, future astronaut and X-15 record holder for altitude (352,800 ft. or about 60 miles straight up) was in the 104 and apparently got sucked in by the wake coming off the 70,he did an inverted half roll over the 70, struck the verticals and hit the top of the left wing on the 70. The 104 immediately became a cloud of parts, the 70 went into a spin and went down. XB-70 test pilot Carl Cross was killed when his escape pod didn't operate correctly and Al White nearly broke his left elbow getting his arm inside his capsule so it would close and he could eject.
AFAIK, the VALKYRE never went overseas because it was still 'shhh, don't look, nothing to see here' secret The Tupolev Tu-144 CONCORDSKI was involved in a widely reported crash near Le Bourget during the, I think, 1976 Paris Air Show, Bob Hoover was an airborne witness to that.

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:42 pm

Definitely NOT Paris. Can't think what that might've been apart from the Tu 144 example already given.

For XB-70 stuff, some chapter & verse here: http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showth ... p?t=112399

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sun Oct 09, 2011 5:48 pm

i have a good friend who had a family member that shot movies for North American.he has movies of the XB-70.been trying to see them for yrs.aint holding my breath.

Re: XB-70 Accident

Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:13 pm

I remember seeing a2a pix of the F-104/XB-70 midair in a magazine, LIFE I think.

Re: XB-70 Accident

Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:53 am

Here is a test pilot's story from NASA and it has a discription of the accident in it starting on page 142.

Re: XB-70 Accident

Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:36 am

Agent86 - I used to work with a guy who was a life support systems tech for the airforce on the U-2 and SR-71 programs in the 60's-70's. He said that one day he and another guy were rounded up and put into flightsuits. Then they took them out to the XB-70 and shot a bunch of film of them "flying" the plane - all cockpit situations. He too would love to be able to see those films someday.

Tom P.
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