During the height of the Cold War, the US was developing a bomber that would be the largest and fastest bomber ever produced, able to fly at Mach 3. On June 8th in 1966, the XB-70 took off from near the Santa Barbara coast on a test flight, flown by Chief Test Pilot Major Carl Cross. It was accompanied by several other aircraft, including a T-38 trainer, an F-4 Phantom, an F-5 and an F-104N Starfighter. Something went horribly wrong, as the F-104N drifted into the right wing of the Valkyrie. The mid-air explosion of the F-104N instantly killed NASA Chief Test Pilot Joe Walker. The remains of his F-104N crashed to the floor of the Mojave desert. The force of the F-104N’s explosion damaged the rudders of the XB-70 and it’s left wing. The Valkyrie entered into an uncontrollable spin, also crashing in the Mojave desert. Accident investigation stated that the vortex created by the Valkyrie caused the F-104N to go into a sudden roll, causing it to hit the Valkyrie.
There are separate memorials for both crash sites, which are within 2 miles of each other. Please be respectful, as these are American heroes that perished for our freedoms. The XB-70 Valkyrie memorial for Major Carl Cross appears to be very well maintained, after 50+ years of the crash. Unfortunately, the route/trail to the memorial site for NASA Chief Test Pilot is off-limits.
UPDATE March 2020 – If you look at the comments at the bottom of this page, you can see that this memorial was built by Jeremy Krans in 2015. I wanted to call this out and give credit to Jeremy for taking the time and care to recognize these heroes…THANK YOU!
Please click the images below:
I believe that date should be 1966 instead of 1996…. re: On June 8th in 1996
Hi Chris – Thanks for catching the typo! I made the change to reflect the right date (1966)…thanks!
The large flag pole and American flag were erected by three friends from Orange County CA in 2018. We have maintained the pole and flag since installation. This is partially a salute to my father and his fellow service members that served in the era, the brave flight crew and the America that we love.
Having trained at Ft Irwin many, many times there are numerous aircraft wreckage sites in the area.
I remember climbing up the Northern Escarpment during a dismounted Infantry training exercise and stumbling on the wreckage of an F-86. It had been pretty much left as is (minus the engine). No canopy was found so the pilot probably ejected.
From the wreck site, you could look straight down into Death Valley.
Anyone that can point me in the direction to find the 104 crash site? We are celebrating 50yrs of our school named after joe Walker and i want to find this site and pay my reapects. My email is m.martianrules@gmail.com, i hope to find someone that can tell me how to.get there.. thanks. Matt
I built the small memorial. It’s still looking good after 5 years. There are several others in the area. I’m glad to see that people are getting out to visit these sites and honor these fallen heroes.
@Jeremy – Wow! Thank you so much for stopping by, and even more for the memorial you built to honor those that perished. The memorial is still going strong and is in great shape. It’s heartening to see the respect that it’s been treated with over the years. I hope that continues. I’ll update my blog post for this page to include your name for the creator of the memorial, if you’re okay with that. THANKS! Paul
My husband and I installed the white cross with the brass plaque more than 25 years ago, while exploring crash sites in the Mojave. At the time, nothing marked the site except a few small bits of the aircraft. We certainly didn’t expect the cross to stand this long!