I recieved the 1/72 scale Italeri XB-70 Valkyrie kit for christmas and I was browsing through my aircraft magazines for some reference on the XB-70 and found this pic .
I was wondering if anyone knows of any web sites that have some more info on the markings of the chase aircraft .
The magazine mentions that the chase aircraft comprised of an F-4B Phantom from the Navy Base at Point Mugu , two Northrop aircraft , a T-38 Talon and a F-5A Freedom Fighter bailed back from the USAF , and a NASA Lockheed F-104N with added rocket engine used for astronaut training .
I have all four chase aircraft kits in my stash , however the F-104 kit I have may need to be modified .
I can make out some of the markings on the T-38 and F-4 in the pic but it’s difficult to tell what’s on the F-104 and F-5 ???
Perhaps there might be aftermarket decals for the various chase aircraft ???
Anyway I appreciate any assistance anyone give me , I think it would make a great dio of all four chase aircraft sitting besides the XB-70 Valkyrie .
The Dryden Flight Research Center web site has a color photograph of the three F-104s based there. It was the number 2 airplane which collided with the XB-70. The site also has photographs of other airplanes based there. Try this address. www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/F104. If it doesn’t work just do an online search for the center.
Two good books on the XB-70 are Valkyrie North American XB-70A by Steve Pace. It is an Aero Series Book; and Valkyrie North American’s Mach 3 Superbomber by Dennis R. Jenkins and Tony R. Landis. It was published by Specialty Press. The Jenkins/Landis book has a two page photo spread of the in-flight collision. Most of them are color photographs.
Go straight to the USAF Museum website as they have color photos of the aircraft involved and the crash as well as their serial numbers. Search for XB-70 in the Photo menu.
John back in the old days before we had the internet to search for information, we used to buy magazines for such material. The magazines that I have with much on the XB-70 and the crash was either ‘WINGS’ or ‘AIRPOWER’ (both were published by Airwingmedia.com). Each was published alternately(Wings in January & March, Airpower in February and April). From what I remember, the crash occured while the XB-70 and one of the Starfighters were flying a test flight. The Starfighter got caught in the vortices off the wing of the XB-70 and during the maneuvers struck the the starboard wing causing both aircraft to crash. The pilot of the Starfighter was killed and both pilots in the XB-70 bailed out in their capsules. I believe one was hurt quite bad. The XB-70 was powered by six engines (each as powerful as either the two engines of the F-15 or as one engine of the F-15…can’t remember how that went).
The Soviets developed the MIG-25 Foxbat to counter the XB-70.
Wow , great info on my XB-70 question , thanks everyone .
I’ll check out the links to Edwards AFB Museum , Dryden Research Center and the USAF Museum sites .
Those two books on the XB-70 Valkyrie sound interesting , so I’ll check Amazon .com books and see what they have .
I must admit when looking for information on Military Aircraft , I always search through my books and magazine collections first . I have a nice little bookshelf loaded with lots of reading/reference material .
Up until a few years ago I was a frequent visiter to a lot of second hand book stores around Sydney and usually I would come home with a couple of great books or magazines .
With a lot more family commitments these past couple of years , I guess I have been relying on the internet more and more for info but I still love to read my books and magazines .
Thanks again for all the help and if I can find a pic of each chase aircraft and hopfully put together some decal markings for each bird , I think this would be a great aircraft model project .
John, I’m pretty certain I have the magazines that were cited earlier. I’ll look up the article. It definitely was a GE photo shoot, and the F-104 got caught in wake turbulence and rolled through one of the XB-70’s vertical fin, knocking it off. The airplane flew a bit longer and then departed from controlled flight.
The XB-70 had J-93 engines, which were also intended for the Boeing 2707 SST. I’ve seen one in the Silver Hill Smithsonian facility.
I’ve been looking at those sites you guy’s kindly suggested and found a nice pic of three F-104N’s from the Dryden Research Center site
It appears the F-104N is similar to the F-104G , the local hobby store has a few 1/72 Hasegawa F-104G Starfighter kits , so I will check those out tomorrow .
I went through the Decal stash and found some NASA decals left over from some Airfix U-2 builds , I think they may be suitable for the F-104N[G]
I haven’t found any info as yet on the F-5A , especially the tail markings , in another issue of my aircraft magazine’s , I did find a couple of pic’s of Northrop’s F-5/T-38 , the squadron badge on the F-5 in the pic below has a lightning bolt going through it , similar to whats on Trumpeter’s 1/72 F-105D Thunderchief decal sheet ; I wonder if this is what is on the F-5A chase aircraft ???
I also came across a November 1995 issue of FSM about converting an F-5B Freedom Fighter to a T-38 Talon , I have three 1/72 scale F-5B’s in my stash and I think the conversion doesn’t seem to difficult to do and it probably a better option than the cheap PM Model T-38 kit.
I’ll keep searching the net for more info and pic’s of the chase aircraft and also some decals for the F-4B with the NAVY MISSILE CENTER stensilling on the tail , but I better get back to the workbench , my current builds a backing up a little .
That lightning bolt on the F-105 sheet was standard markings for late 50s and early 60s Tactical Air Command fighters. The shield in the middle
of the bolt is the TAC shield. These markings disappeared when TAC started painting all of their airplanes in SEA camouflage in the mid 60s.
Al White, the pilot of the XB-70 ejected, but was severely injured and never flew again. Carl Cross, the co-pilot never ejected for reasons never determined,
but thought to be either mechanical malfunction or G forces so high that he couldn’t activate the ejection sequence.
When The Airforce retired the XB-70 I was in grade school, we were let out to watch it fly around Dayton Ohio, what a thrill. I built the AMT version,and it tis the same molds the fit is terriable on the fuselage and wings expect lots of putty. If you are in the Dayton Area the XB-70 is not in the mesume buildings, you have to take a bus on the base to get to it, get there early to get signed in on the bus , and you will need ID, you used to be able to drive there, but after 911 the base is closed off. but it is one beautiful plane, even with the silver wheels
Don’t forget Frank Sinatra’s LearJet 23, “Christina II”
His Learjet, N175FS was the fastest civilian aircraft available on the day of the GE photo-shoot & was the aircraft from which the video of the disaster was taken;
If you go to you tube and type in XB-70 you can watch the flight from start to A/C break up just before impact with ground.There are several camera angles.Some film very sharp and clear others not so much.
