page_title: North American XB-70 Valkyrie
section_title: Incidents and accidents
hierarchical_section_title: North American XB-70 Valkyrie / Incidents and accidents
caption_attribution_description: English: The North American XB-70A Valkyrie (s/n 62-0207) just before the collision, 8 June 1966. Other aircraft are: Northrop T-38A-15-NO (s/n 59-1601), McDonnell F-4B-15-MC (BuNo 150993), Lockheed F-104A-20-LO (aka F-104N) (s/n 56-813), and Northrop YF-5A-NO (s/n 59-4989).
context_page_description: The North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie was the prototype version of the planned B-70 nuclear-armed, deep-penetration strategic bomber for the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Designed in the late 1950s by North American Aviation, the six-engined Valkyrie was capable of cruising for thousands of miles at Mach 3+ while flying at 70,000 feet.
  At these speeds, it was expected that the B-70 would be practically immune to interceptor aircraft, the only effective weapon against bomber aircraft at the time. The bomber would spend only a brief time over a particular radar station, flying out of its range before the controllers could position their fighters in a suitable location for an interception. High speed also made the aircraft difficult to see on radar displays and its high-altitude and high-speed capacity could not be matched by any contemporary Soviet interceptor or fighter aircraft.
  The introduction of the first Soviet surface-to-air missiles in the late 1950s put the near-invulnerability of the B-70 in doubt. In response, the United States Air Force began flying its missions at low level, where the missile radar's line of sight was limited by terrain.
caption: The aircraft formation prior to the collision on 8 June 1966; the F-104, with a red tail, is the second plane from the right.
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