Maiden flight of the XB-70A Valkyrie

As an aviation buff, I have always had a great interest in the aircraft produced by the North American Aviation company. My father was an aeronautical engineer and had involvement with many of the WW ll fighters and bombers produced between 1939 and 1944. He is probably the only man that sat in, ran up and signed off on all twenty four B-25B bombers for the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 in which sixteen were used. As a teenager, I was told the stories of the X-15 at Edwards AFB and a new mach 3 bomber that was in the designing stages by Johnny Hesseldenz, my Dad's best friend, best man and coworker. He was now the vice president of North American Aviation and a very good friend of my family.

I joined the United States Air Force in 1962 and after an eighteen month tour at Wheelus AB in Tripoli, Libya, I was lucky enough to be stationed at Edwards AFB. The activities there overwhelmed me. This was right down my alley. I was assigned to the reciprocating engine department and later to an H-21C helicopter as assistant crew chief. The main function for the H-21s was "chase" aircraft for the experimental planes being tested. This was primarily a task of observation of the test aircraft, communication with the pilot and crew and photography work.

Seeing Johnny Hesseldenz from time to time, he told me about that new mach 3 bomber that was nearing completion at Plant 42 in Palmdale. Of course, it was the XB-70 and little did I know as a teenager that I would be involved in the project several years later. On Sept. 21, 1964, The XB-70A Ship 1 (AV/1 (Air Vehicle 1) serial number 62-0001 took off from Palmdale and I was in Helicopter Chase 1 flying along side the bomber during takeoff. It was like watching a giant white triangle with a long neck gracefully taking to the air. Reporting no observable problems during takeoff, we flew the short distance to Edwards and waited for the XB-70 to complete its first test flight and land at its new home.

It seemed like an eternity (the actual flight took the XB-70 over Utah and back and lasted just over an hour) my crew was alerted that the aircraft had an ETA of ten minutes so we started the engine and took off and got into position with the second chase H-21. I spotted the bomber at about two miles out, alerted the crews, and we hovered over the threshold of Runway 4 Right. What a sight, the bomber came in at an attitude of about thirty degrees nose up and gradually met the pavement with the usual chirp of rubber hitting runway and started a long braking roll when suddenly flames from the left rear landing gear wheels shot back an estimated fifty feet or more. Then the three huge drogue breaking parachutes opened and everyone thought they would certainly burn up. The aircraft finally came to a stop and several fire trucks were immediately on the scene. The cause was later disclosed to be that the rear bogie breaks locked up and disintegrated. The rear tires were flattened. People say that all is well that ends well. The new bomber sat on Runway 4 Right for three days due to the fact it took that long for a crane to come from Los Angeles big enough to lift the crippled bomber, get some temporary wheels installed and get it to the hanger. What a day! One that I will never forget.

A2C Thomas J. Morris

1615 Field Maintenance Squadron

Edwards AFB, CA 1964

Publisher's note: Tom Morris is my high school sweetheart and we have kept in contact all these years. He finally agreed to write for The Loop and I hope he continues. Enjoy!