XB-70 Valkyrie Emergency Landing and fire

[@tdave1234]

This is the XB-70 that was later lost in the mid-air collision (AV-2). This was called the 'paper clip flight' as one of the pilots had to bypass a circuit breaker by using a paper clip he happened to have on some paperwork to get the landing gear down. The failure allowed one of the nose wheels to contact the landing gear doors lacerating and flattening it (you see it disintegrate on contact w/ the runway). Three of the four brakes on the main gear were locked. (Source: 'Valkyrie - The North American XB-70' by Graham Simons)

[@jpatt1000]

Yeah. It was one of those "catch 22" situations. The nose gear wouldn't cycle because the door wasn't shut, and the door wouldn't shut because it was tangled in the gear. I'm sure eventually videos of all the test flights be available, because I'd like to see a full version of this one and the "tip toe" landing.(It would be a great idea for a DVD.)

[@General5USA]

Wrong . The wheels locked on several test flights because of improperly set bearings. And the main gear hit a chunk of scrap metal on the runway dropped from a maintenance vehicle causing a laceration and a slow leak….not a blow out

[@mosthatedandroidtunernolim9800]

One was other is in a museum

[@General5USA]

@Galileo7of9 Me! I test flew the Valkyrie Beginning with the first flight to to the final flight of the testing phase of the project. It took about three maybe four months to figure out that the assembly mechanic was over torquing the taper bearings and not setting the bearing nut to a “floating fit” I am also one of two engineers who designed the rotating gear system for gear up positioning😉

[@General5USA]

@Galileo7of9 You know whats funnier than you not being so gullible to believe my lies...the FACT is that I am actually telling the TRUTH. And I Am the pilot of the plane that got hit in the tail by the escort jet that cause my Valkyrie to crash. And you know what?!.....I am a retired Supreme Court Justice and an FAA crash investigator . With more awards and certifications in aviation that you have fingers and toes..ahahahahahahahah . And i believe that the truth is funnier than your crazy interpretations...ahahahahahahahahahhahahhahhahahahhahahhahahahahahhaaaaa!!!!!!

[@StephenMattison66]

Most tires blown, still lands like a dream! LOVE XB-70!!

[@markrosenbaum608]

My father designed the hydraulics on the XB-70. The tires caught on fire due to the brakes locking up.

[@badasshuh69]

Wow

[@TeenWithACarrotIDK]

That’s a bad flaw in the design!

[@TeenWithACarrotIDK]

mark rosenbaum and the front tires got messed up.

[@snakeplissken2148]

he probably bit his nails that day. First the hydraulics of the front gear failed, the pilot fixed it with a paperclip and later the hydraulics blocked the brakes. But anyway, it was an impressive piece of technology.

[@General5USA]

mark rosenbaum ...I am the REAL test pilot of the aircraft that you see with wheels afire. The fact of all tires bowing out is that the person who mounted the wheels never mounted taper bearings before. He torqued the bearings so they locked instead of allowing a “floating” fit adjustment. When the wheels touched ground , whatever remaining play in the wheels was lost by friction heat of the bearing drag locking the wheels and blowing them out.😀 your father did well .. I never had any hydraulic problems with any of the Valkyries

[@jim5870]

-Unknown to anyone, a wire in a junction box was accidentally pinched under the cover causing a short to ground. -After takeoff, the landing gear was selected up but the hydraulics shut off because the shorted wire. -When the hydraulic pump shut down the pressure was lost and air loads on the unlocked gear caused it to drift rearwards into the door. -the nose wheel tire was cut by the gear door. -engineers on the ground gave instructions to the pilots where and how to jump a relay in the cockpit to get the hydraulic pump started. -Copilot use a paperclip and jumped terminals on a relay as instructed. -Hydraulic pump started and pilot selected gear down, and the gear went back to down and locked. -Aircraft landed normally but the anti skid system malfunctioned and locked some of the wheels

[@Zoomer30]

Some wheels? From my count they had perhaps one tire left that wasn't either throwing chunks or on fire.

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

+jim5870 Hey - maybe you could tell us why the Pilot of the crashed plane was unable to jettison, when the co-pilot successfully bailed??

[@jim5870]

After the B-70 was hit, the airplane lost control and started to spin. The axis of the spin was somewhere behind the nose gear. The pilots were being thrown forward from centrifugal forces. It is believed that the pilot (Al White) initiated his ejection sooner that the co pilot did and managed to get his capsule ejected. The co pilots ( Carl Cross) seat failed to eject because the co pilot could not get his seat to retract into the escape capsule because of centrifugal forces building up on him and the seat from the airplane spinning. Certain automatic seat functions in the escape capsule failed to operate because of high G loads. Co pilot waited a second too late

[@622wesc]

That's why they keep the nose up so long. You bust the nose gear it might end badly.

[@neilreid2298]

Skillful pilot to say the least- sweet touchdown. I've seen the other Valkyrie at Wright Patterson- it's an enormous aircraft. Precursor to the B1.

[@gracien2008]

I need to visit now that I'm retired.

[@borntoclimb7116]

True

[@patriot692]

Hmmm So that must be why "The Bone" (B1) is my FAVORITE aircraft of this day& age. Can't believe the F15 Eagle is so "old" (my 2nd fav. aircraft) 🙏🇺🇸

[@sint5990]

I’ve always been so intrigued by how high the cockpit is at touchdown relative to the gear. You’re still 100 ft above the runway with your nose up 10 degrees when you land. It must’ve been a hard feature to overcome when flying and landing such a beautiful aircraft.

[@jpatt1000]

Not to mention taking a turn when taxying. You have to go way past where you think you need to turn so the nose gear makes the corner!

[@julianstafford7071]

The radio altimeter is a real help.

[@cliffords.8341]

It's probably best this aircraft ever made for what it was intended for, but it never made it into service because by the time it was ready, the Soviet Union had missiles that could reach the altitudes and the speed it flew and destroy it even though it could reach mach 3 and fly to 70,000 feet. This is one beautiful aircraft.

[@simonrano8072]

It not probably, it is one of only two ever designed to do that. The other one, the Soviet T4 never came close to designed speed and program was stopped rapidly.

[@nylonsteel]

must have been firestones ;)

[@machia-mw1lm]

The Firestone 720 I believe . 1966 tire . Design flaws in the steel belts .

[@conniejocotton1082]

Regarding the piece of the tire I have - well my Father was the Pilot so thats how I come by have such a treasure :-)Colonel Joseph F Cotton USAF

[@jeffwalther3935]

Connie Jo Cotton that is priceless relic. his service is historically unparalleled. youre fortunate. :)

[@badasshuh69]

Woah

[@leathalfighter8102]

And I'm the Guy who Sold the fuel for this Plane.

[@robertmurray6155]

The Greatest Generation! Your father was a rare breed.

[@toddmartin6572]

I have the pilots station gyroscope instrument assembly from this plane. It was located to the left of the pilots left knee. Bought it from a huge collector/archeologist of aviation history.. it’s twisted a bit just as the crash was described upon impact.. god bless joe cotton. I feel horrible for him to witness that crash right in front of his chase plane that day.. rip to all her crew

[@jimr7154]

Congratulations I’ve been following this project for quite awhile now and it’s awesome to see it so so close to completion Going from vtol to forward flight Can’t wait Really excited to see the final results

[@rclarke9158]

There were only two ever built. As we know one crashed and the lone survivor is on display at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patt. It never gained operational status and was designed to replace the B-52 2hich still flies today and is epcted to do so until at least 2040-50.

[@General5USA]

There were actually several that were flown here in the United States and either 7 or 10 were built and sent to the middle east where they very stupidly tried to put bomb mounts on the bottom which violated treaties that forbid such an action.

[@HagarTheHorrible67]

@@General5USA no, only two XB-70s were ever built, one survives.

[@General5USA]

@@HagarTheHorrible67 I don’t know where you get your information from . But at last count there was about 7 made for various purposes. 4 remained here in the United States ... 2 for experimental purposes...2 for joy riding of military and government dignitaries.... and 3 to Europe for show and demonstration. An order for 10 was placed by the Middle East leaders but the deal was never finalized because of some international legal complications. Soooo, officially and for public information there are only 2 on record but a third and fourth one still remains in tact in Egypt. I’m the original designer, test pilot, and certificator for flight. and I’m declaring you an idiot to think that an airliner like the white Valkyrie could be a bomber

[@Kevin-tj6nw]

@@General5USA It's pretty ballsy of you to call somebody an idiot when the name "Jason C. Doelker" is nowhere to be found on either the NASA website, the USAF website or the National Museum of the USAF website. Those websites all say the same thing: Only seven pilots flew the Valkyrie: -Al White (North American Chief Test Pilot) -Col Joe Cotton (USAF) -Lt Col Fitzhugh “Fitz” Fulton (USAF/NASA) -Van Shepard (North American) -Maj Carl Cross (USAF) -Don Mallick (NASA) -Lt Col Emil “Ted” Sturmthal (USAF) The North American XB-70 was specifically designed to be a bomber, not an "airliner" as you claim: "The B-70 Valkyrie, with a planned cruise speed of Mach 3 and operating altitude of 70,000 feet, was to be the ultimate high-altitude, high-speed manned strategic bomber." (source, NASA). Only two XB-70's were ever built, not "about" seven or, uhh, maybe ten or maybe a thousand and they were never used for "joy riding". The final flight of the first built XB-70 (AV-1) was on February 4th, 1969 when it was ferried to the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio (source, National Museum Of The United States Air Force). Dude, just give it up and stop pretending you're somebody that you're NOT.

[@johnhutchison9782]

​@@HagarTheHorrible67the Entertainer certainly seems to be on some sort of heavy-duty narcotics or is just plain old everyday screwed up in the head.

[@michaeldouglas2243]

HOTWHEELS! BEAT THAT!

[@jpatt1000]

"Flaming tires ma'am? Don't worry about it, it's perfectly normal." Or "They all do that on this model." -What the mechanic would say if the woman was the pilot in the 60's.

[@domesday1535]

Beautiful landing for such a stressful situation

[@anthonyhewis5083]

Incredible looking aircraft.

[@johnthompson6550]

This was an amazing aircraft, years ahead of its time. It was the proving grounds for modern hydraulics and electrical systems. Noticed the nose tires, the number 1 tire is failing and number two is slightly behind. This may have been early testing of solid powered aluminum tires that were used years later on the SR-71 and YB-12 aircraft. 1966 an iPad / iPhone would have been an alien device! Texas Instruments had yet to bring hand calculators to market! Compression lift, canards, FL700, the six pack engine configuration, INS, what radical ideas! Such a beautiful aircraft even by todays standards. 😢

[@zorroalphonso4354]

The most beautiful ever.

[@ronanrogers4127]

It’s a copy of Soviet designs.

[@rickwatkins6449]

It's amazing that the landing struts didn't collapse and the belly of the XB-70 didn't slam into the runway

[@General5USA]

I may be considered a bit biased by saying this but the Valkyrie landing gear has to be the strongest and the most unique that has ever been engineered for any aircraft of that class and size

[@MrShobar]

Why would that happen?

[@markcheek5006]

There's still one of these planes in existence it's on display at the Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Fairborn Ohio.

[@theadventuresofjavier8698]

I saw it in person. So beautiful up close

[@markcheek5006]

@@theadventuresofjavier8698 it's a magnificent looking plane that and the SR-71 Blackbird.

[@Jhorak101]

The other plane on approach behind the XB-70 looks like a B-58 Hustler.

[@gkprivate433]

it was. It had the speed and being 3 man crew a few more eyes available to check on things

[@rixxroxxk1620]

Didn’t even notice that!!!👍

[@VelvetViolator]

This is the plane ("207") that got lost in the crash with the "Starfighter"...

[@jamesmcilvenny2294]

According to a blog called Sierra Hotel, this landing was after an issue with retracting the nose gear, which then wouldn’t extend. In order to extend the nose gear, the crew used a paper clip to short circuit the control... may explain why the nose gear is all beat up. Apparently they tried hard landings to try and shake the nose gear out. (If they hadn’t gotten it down, they would have had to bail out, destroying a 370 million dollar experimental jet)

[@Peter78730]

Oddly beautiful and grotesque at the same time.

[@GRosa250]

Such a futuristic plane and then the antique fire trucks chasing after it lol

[@cosiDIVerso]

what is that stick coming out the nose when plane is viewed from behind? it seem be straight at 00:49

[@andrewdacosta7879]

I would think it is some sort of pitot tube, but it is probably not

[@Redrubicon1]

At about 1:32 there appears to be one of those huge mining machines in the background anyone know where this landing occurred?

[@rosewhite---]

gorgeous plane!

[@jpatt1000]

They also has engine number three shut down....and this was just the first flight! Third time was the charm making mach 1.1. (NAA would have received a $125,000 bonus if it went supersonic on the first flight.) She is a beauty though. Wish I could have seen (and heard) one in the air! I wish the USAF museum would get it in the main hangar with a catwalk along the wall so the upper surface could be viewed.

[@johnhutchison9782]

You got your wish on getting her inside. I visited the Air Force Museum in 1983, and lamented the fact that AV-1 was sitting out in the Ohio elements.

[@jpatt1000]

@@johnhutchison9782 It was inside the last two times I was there. The problem was it was in a pair of hangars (the other held the presidential planes) across the base. You needed to sign up to get a spot, go through an orientation, take a bus ride across the base. (The hangers were actually on the military reservation.) Then you had 45 minutes to see both hangars. (Which was NOT enough time. You were allowed to go as often as you wanted as long as there were open spots on the following tours. The plus side was NOTHING was roped off. You could walk right up to anything. (Except the X-13 Vertijet as they had it hanging on the wall. With everything in the X hangar, it took me a while to notice it!)

[@garthhaver3513]

Stood underneath her circa 1984 when I went to Wright-Patterson museum. I remember having about inch and a half of headroom. I was 14 at the time.

[@smellydigit]

Looks a lot like Pirelli's F1 tires at Silverstone this year!

[@legitscoper3259]

Usually i don like American things... but in therms of aviation you guys were great... this plane was impressive...

[@flyman1185]

Do you have to supply your own hairdryers or do they come in the kit?

[@robytar]

Wow, the GE J-93 engines smoke worse than the J-79s!

[@bristleconepinus2378]

beautiful landing.

[@Bobby-lh2sx]

Unaffordable Hotwheels.

[@MachtPlays]

I just want to hear one of these things flying. I want to find out if you can hear the compression waves.

[@alexandrossotiropoulos5621]

Magnificent plane and huge!

[@enochpowelghost]

nice bomber pity about the remould tyres

[@marioherrera4949]

Does anybody know what size those turbines are what horsepower are they I appreciate it thanks guys 👍😇🙏

[@winternow2242]

The turbine or the whole engine?

[@ALB437]

I know - the approach is not perfect - but it would be an additional asset to have an estinguisher system for landing gears - not only for this aircraft

[@TheMichaelBeck]

I would love to see the one that still exists. Crazy engineering skills for guys that built it with slide rules and not CAD.

[@MrShobar]

"...crazy engineering skills..." Yukyuk.

[@winternow2242]

....and millions upon millions of dollars.

[@RCaIabraro]

Test pilots are the ultimate badasses

[@Research-Answers]

Was the parking brake ON? lol

[@fritzkatz]

No joke. That happened to me as PIC of a cabin class twin once. From the skid mark it looked even to me like I unwittingly had held a brake on approach with a heavy foot but turned out a misadjusted parking brake release kept just a little drag on it even with pbrake selected "OFF" ... an amount previously overcome with others flying due to hard touchdowns. Ironically one of my patented "greaser" landings let the rubber heat up and vulcanize in one spot during the couple seconds of skimming float before enough weight came down on the tire to turn it. Blew and despite hard port nosewheel steering and starboard asymmetric thrust yawed us harmlessl;y into the right side grass on rollout. Thanks again to Dennis G for identifying the problem postflight, readjusting the pbrake, and avoiding recurrrence.

[@johnregan1154]

Where the parachute standard for landing this plane or because circumstances?

[@d.brower]

Standard. It came in quite fast, and needed help slowing down in a reasonable distance.

[@JacobDavidCCunningham]

Looked like a solid landing, what caused the fires? They weren't using nitrogen yet?

[@richardharris8229]

Heat from the breaks caused the tyres to burst which in turn caused the fires

[@JacobDavidCCunningham]

Seyonce!

[@gpdude22]

+Richard Harris No. Looks more like the sudden acceleration placed on the non-rotating tires as they made contact with the ground. "Brakes" would not have been applied at that point of the landing.

[@dmvideos7913]

What’s the other aircraft approaching too ?

[@robertwiniarski6477]

what about the Concorde's crash after this video...?

[@winternow2242]

What does. Concorde have to do with this airplane?

[@JamesZlamal]

Did the pilot have a parachute?

[@VolantPneu]

Comme le F22 et le F35 c'est fabriqué en Chine ?

[@Travis_22]

Wow that's nuts!! I guess they were lucky the fire didn't spread. Great post.

[@slowery43]

Wow you guessed that all by yourself, thank you for your valuable input

[@Travis_22]

@@slowery43 Thanks Hoagie, have a great Xmas holiday! 🙂

[@Jhorak101]

What did the accident report say was the cause of the wheel tire and brake failure?

[@l8tr597]

Brakes were locked up is why tires blew/melted. Landing gear was fucked from beginning of flight, front tire cut before landing, any and all things went wrong, electronics I'm guessing...

[@Jhorak101]

The crew did a good job getting her on the ground.

[@mjw1955]

Anybody notice the bad shimmy in the nose gear tires too?

[@unclebill1948]

Did the pilot land with the hand-brake on?

[@AndreBSaba]

malfunction

[@carvinieri5217]

It looks like the wheels are locked and there is friction and fire. The front wheels are quite a strange thing.

[@allgood6760]

Even wonder planes have their bad days.. beautiful plane!

[@jeetenzhurlollz8387]

even when ploughing up the tarmac...she is the most beautiful plane evarrrr

[@riproar11]

Firestone tires?

[@raynus1160]

Almost looks like the pitot boom shook itself off during the rollout(?)

[@ALB437]

No landing gear emergency extinguisher?

[@huladeez9121]

You do realize how long ago this was rigjt?

[@huladeez9121]

Oops messed up i meant *right

[@l8tr597]

+Jqmn _ they didn't have fire extinguishers 40 years ago?

[@huladeez9121]

+l8tr597 lmao my bad thats not what i meant to say at all, my answer was irrelevant to this person's question. Either way though, im pretty there is no such thing as a "landing gear emergency extinguisher".

[@ALB437]

Sorry - my mistake - I had not realized we were back in the 60s

[@olivierperrin3089]

2nd hand tyres ?

[@Klein_Lisa]

This is 🤯Wow!! What HP the Jet engine have,...❤🎉

[@giuseppemarin1549]

In India la Spagna ha fatto una prova di battaglia tra un Eurofaghter e un Sukoy 30 il pilota spagnolo fuoco e dice che e possibile abbattere il Sukoy come e con che cosa..?

[@Neil-ru7kw]

The left nose gear tire was loose on the wheel and flopping 😮

[@xaviersavedra711]

I wonder what it would've been like if these entered production?

[@garethdavies2538]

Unfortunately it would have been a nightmare for some. I got to Rohr Corp, Chula Vista the begining of 1967 and there were engineers who'd been involved in brazing steel honeycomb panels for the XB-70 still bearing the scars from that experience.

[@Gunnypauly73]

It appears to me , the front tire was already flat before the landing occurred .

[@twboegel2918]

Why wasn't the "crash crew" immediately on this?

[@conniejocotton1082]

I have a piece of that tire :-)

[@Doomsday971]

+Connie Jo Cotton Is it still smoking? lol

[@TheStuport]

Well....you just can't say that and not give us all the details on acquiring this treasured archive!!!

[@MrJoseph0204]

What happened to the next one coming??

[@phoenixreborn3289]

Probably had to perform a go around

[@mochrizkyraditya4709]

Tupelov?

[@widetrackcat]

They must have used Firestone 500 radials!!

[@joegoecke9711]

Geez, is that thing tall enough?

[@AxanarGaming]

Very slow fire response I'd say!!

[@shrimpflea]

They have to wait for the plane stop dummy

[@shannonwhirry6915]

very close to Concorde design and very same probles

[@zorroalphonso4354]

Concord came years later, and was of inferior design, barely hitting mach 2.

[@kqr573v2]

I'll bet you think apples look like pineapples, too.

[@winternow2242]

The 2 planes are clearly distinct in almost every way.

[@bestamerica]

' how cause the wheels started the fire

[@luizcarlosdeoliveira9185]

As lonas de freios pegaram fogo 🔥... não passou no teste

[@alexabadi7458]

That's what happen when you buy refurbished tires !

[@808TheDuck]

Honestly!! Did the USAF get these tires on sale? The port tire on the nose gear was already flat!

[@JRBoyg]

I know right!!! It's like the nose gear had an accident earlier and was all mangled before it came out of the doors!

[@CHUUMPASS]

what a majestic war bird. nothing could ever touch this, heck even today nothing could touch it.

[@thomasherb925]

WOW, that thing is Huuuge...that's three SR-71 Drag chutes it deploys

[@TheEmeraldMenOfficial]

You have to think, the XB-70 has six engines.

[@lescobrandon4921]

why is it looks like TU-134?

[@winternow2242]

It doesn't.

[@YourUncleScroatie]

Don't worry,it's only magnesium and rubber burning.

[@l8tr597]

Lol, right, one of the very few metals that actually burn when hot enough

[@28_gauge]

It looks like the left nose gear blew as well.

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

+Brian Drewry It looks like it was flat-deflated before touching the runway. The nose wheels didn't even hit hard.

[@911gpd]

F1 Pirelli tires

[@Doubleantone]

Tires by Firestone.

[@ravipeiris4388]

Christ, a beautiful bomber.

[@turduckens4u]

I wish uploaders would find out the facts before describing and uploading video's that have been correctly posted before.

[@rolflandale2565]

It looked literally, like the afterburners set the tires inside, on fire! 🔥...where is the audio?

[@DSAK55]

Please remain seated until the plane has come to a complete stop

[@TrainTrackTrav]

The XB-70 looks like something out of Kerbal Space Program.

[@mikemcnamara3777]

Both rear gear on fire, before the nose gear even touches.

[@TheComedyColosseum]

It looks like he's trying to get back to 1955.

[@JK-zx3go]

Trumpton FRS arriving at the end

[@GagarinNignii]

мощно и касание передней стойки ,рассчитано !!

[@deanflores4837]

This bird was way ahead of its time.

[@IsleOfFeldspar]

It looked like it was on fire even before landing

[@ChrisTheGregory]

That's the only reasonable explanation for how he managed to totally shred a front tire just by having it touch the ground for less than a second at 0:50. (I mean, aside from landing on a runway composed entirely of exploding nails.)

[@randompheidoleminor3011]

_Back to the Future_

[@digranni128]

are you crasy?

[@winternow2242]

If they ever do another remake of "Fail Safe", they should have CGI B-70s instead of B-58s as the "Vindicators".

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

Doesn't everybody know Fix-A-Flat is flammable ??

[@jhatchoou]

i bet that thing goes through so much gas cruising at mach 3

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

+jhatch Nope - doesn't use a drop.

[@dwinsemius]

It actually got more efficient when it went supersonic. The shockwave gave it extra lift.

[@paxandeath]

покрышки не выдержали чтоль ? или тормоза заклинило ?

[@cardinaloflannagancr8929]

The tires were a problem on concord as well and redesigned, protective guards added around them. Let alone the braking problem tires were an issue due to high takeoff and landing speeds. Much more force is pushed into those tires and gear than say a 777. That's why the Boeing tried to use wings that would sweep back at higher speed but not at takeoff landing speeds. If this plane had problems at takeoff and had to do an emergency landing it may well have had much more fuel (weight) than it was designed to land with. So they would have had to land even faster and possibly stop harder too depending on runway length.