On this day in 1969, the North American Aviation XB-70A-1-NA Valkyrie, 62-0001, made its very last flight from Edwards AFB, California, to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. NASA Research Test Pilot Fitzhugh L. Fulton, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, USAF (Retired), and Lieutenant Colonel Emil Sturmthal, USAF, were the flight crew for the flight. On arrival at Wright-Patterson, Fulton closed out the logbook on the massive research plane and handed it over to the curator of the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
A second Mach 3+ prototype strategic bomber, XB-70A-2-NA 62-0207, was destroyed when it crashed during a mid-air collision with a Lockheed F-104N Starfighter flown by NASA Chief Research Test Pilot Joseph A. Walker, in 1966. The multi-aircraft photo shoot ended in tragedy when both Walker and the B-70’s co-pilot, Major Carl S. Cross, USAF, were killed.
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