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#1
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You know Bill, no one ever thinks that playing politics can cost someone the ultimate sacrifice. Hell of a price to pay. Nuch [/ QUOTE ] You can bet your last dollar that there was one hell of an ass-covering scramble as the investigators discovered all the cover-ups by higher-ups that kept that hot-dogging B-52 pilot on flight status. More than one career was terminated over this crash because of all the buddy-buddy back-slapping by the mishap pilot's higher-ranking pals. About the only consolation that came out of the B-52 crash was that a few of those officers, the ones who over-ruled the squadron commander's desire to ground the mishap pilot, had their own careers ended. |
#2
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how did the pilot screw up in that crash?
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Don't mess with old farts - age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience. |
#3
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how did the pilot screw up in that crash? [/ QUOTE ] Ran out of altitude and airspeed at the same time.
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Still ISO the thieves...RIP, Larry Clain |
#4
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Here's one from the experimental category. This is the XB-70
Valkryie program. A multi-mach bomber project. A few things of note here are the articulating main landing gear, movable wing tips amd six engines. This particular plane later crashed and sadly killed it's pilots. If you look closely as the Valkryie is landing, you will see a B-58 Hustler chase plane ![]() the plane flexed so buch during sustained mach flight that the white paint peeled off. You can see the missing paint in the final shots of the video. Steve XB-70 Valkryie
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#5
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A neat airplane doomed by the advancement in Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) development. That, plus its incredible appetite for fuel. The crash occurred when test pilot Joe Walker got too close to the XB-70s down-turned wingtips and his F-104 entered the XB's wingtip vorticies. The F-104 quickly rolled across the top of the XB-70, knocking off most of the XB's two vertical fins and then the F-104 fell away in flames, killing Walker. The XB flew on for a short time until it finally went out of control. One pilot safely ejected (Al White) but the copilot's (Carl Cross) ejection capsule malfunctioned, trapping him inside the falling XB-70 and he died on impact. The remaining XB-70 (there were only two) is on display at the USAF Museum.
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#6
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Bill,
The USAF Museum is one of the places I hope to visit one day. Tons of neat stuff there....... Steve
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#7
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Bill,
There was a very informative cable series on several years ago called WINGS. I think it was on The Discovery Channel at the time. I haven't seen it for some time, but I was always impressed with the breath of information and detailed manufacturing and in-flight footage they gathered. Do you know the where-abouts of this series? Steve
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#8
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They still play Wings on the Discovery Wings channel. The early episodes with the British narration are getting rare and the XB-70 was one of those episodes. I saw it in 1988 but not since. Here's a Googled photo of the ill-fated XB-70 just before the collision. Joe Walker's orange-tailed F-104 is on the B-70's right wing and you can see Walker getting in close to the right wing of the XB. Walker, a highly-experienced test pilot to include flights in the X-15, surely knew about wingtip vorticies (basically horizontal tornadoes that trail aft from the wingtip of every aircraft) but he may have underestimated the strength of the massive XB-70's wingtip vorticies.
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#9
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One other good thing to come out of it was that thru the use of this example it was beaten into the rest of us that "hotdogging" would not be tolerated, no matter how good or how many friends you had in high places.
Just goes to show you, there are bold pilots and there are old pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.
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Dave ![]() |
#10
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He thought he was Sierra Hotel.
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