1/72 AMT/ERTL XB-70A and Hasegawa F-104N

Gallery Article by Tom Valaoras on June 29 2009

 

Greetings from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  

This scene commemorates the 43rd anniversary of the fateful last flight the second XB-70 prototype (SN 20201) and #813 F-104N piloted by the then famous X-15 NASA test pilot Joe Walker at Edwards Air Force Base, June 8th 1966.

That morning, there was to be a routine test flight with Al White (North American Aviation Chief Test Pilot) at the controls and Carl Cross, a newcomer to the program, in the copilot’s chair.
They were then supposed to meet up with 2 F-5’s, and F-4, and Joe Walker in his F-104N for a demonstration flight over the Mojave Desert.  Some General Electric officials were to take pictures of the planes in formation for a brochure for the upcoming company shareholders meeting (GE provided all of the engines for the above mentioned planes) from a nearby Learjet.

Unfortunately, for reasons still unknown even to this day, Joe Walker lost control of his F-104N just off of the right wing of the XB-70.  Joe Walker lost his life instantly after his plane exploded.
The XB-70 lost the majority of its rear tail, and after around 30 seconds of level flight, the plane entered a flat spin and crashed, killing co-pilot Carl Cross.  Al White managed to eject and survive to fly another day.

Lost were two of America’s premier test pilots, with combined 20,000+ hours and fixed-wing altitude record holder in the X-15 (354,000 feet; Joe Walker) The loss of the XB-70 cost $500 million in 1960s dollars!

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After 2 years, these planes were finally built.  I bought the XB-70 on E-Bay, and found the quality of fit and detailing poor.  It seemed to take forever to sand and fill all of the defects after assembly.  The cockpit and radio bay inside the entry door was scratch-built.  Raised panel lines were sanded down and re-scribed.  All landing gear struts were carefully detailed using my spares box and sprue.  Spare decals were used for the 2nd prototype version. I used RA-5 Vigilante exhausts with afterburners from Aires, which look like the J-93s on the XB-70.  The entry ladder into the XB-70 was also scratch built.  A excellent reference would be Valkyrie: the XB-70 Story by Jenkins and Landis.

The F-104N is a converted Hasegawa F-104G.  NASA decals were from Meteor Productions.

Thanks for the interest,

Tom Valaoras

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Photos and text © by Tom Valaoras