Deadly Photoshoot | 1966 North American XB-70 Mid-Air Accident

Please support this channel by following me on Patreon On 8 June 1966, XB-70A No. 2 was in close formation with four other aircraft (an F-4 Phantom, an F-5, a T-38 Talon, and an F-104 Starfighter) for a photoshoot at the behest of General Electric, manufacturer of the engines of all five aircraft. After the photoshoot, the F-104 drifted into the XB-70’s right wing, flipped and rolled inverted over the top of the Valkyrie, before striking the bomber’s vertical stabilizers and left wing. The F-104 then exploded, destroying the Valkyrie’s rudders and damaging its left wing. With the loss of both rudders and damage to the wings, the Valkyrie entered an uncontrollable spin and crashed north of Barstow, California. NASA Chief Test Pilot Joe Walker (F-104 pilot) and Carl Cross (XB-70 co-pilot) were killed. Al White (XB-70 pilot) ejected, sustaining serious injuries, including the crushing of his arm by the closing clamshell-like escape crew capsule moments prior to ejection. Music