Bailing out and losing the XB-70 was quickly becoming the only option…
Designed to cruise at Mach 3 and operate at 70,000 feet, the B-70 Valkyrie was intended to be the ultimate high-speed, high-altitude manned strategic bomber. However, unfolding events ensured that it would assume a very different place in aviation history than originally envisioned.
By the early 1960s, newly developed Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) were making it increasingly difficult for high-speed, high-altitude bombers to survive in combat, while cheaper, nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) were also coming into service. Consequently, in 1961, the costly B-70 bomber program was canceled before any Valkyrie aircraft had been finished or flown.
Nevertheless, the USAF acquired two XB-70 aircraft to evaluate the aerodynamics, engines, and other performance aspects of large supersonic airplanes. The first XB-70A (Air Vehicle 1, or AV 1) made its maiden flight in September 1964 and reached Mach 3 in October 1965. The second Valkyrie (AV 2) first flew in July 1965, but in June 1966, it was lost after an accidental mid-air collision. A third Valkyrie (AV 3) was never finished.
AV 1 continued flying and providing important test data for the research program until it was transferred to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in 1969. As previously noted, on Mar. 7, 1966, the aircraft was forced to make a “tip-toe” emergency landing due to hydraulic issues.
AV 2 also suffered its own landing gear issue, this time on Apr. 30, 1966, during its 37th flight. Shortly after takeoff, Joe Cotton retracted the landing gear. However, as Graham M. Simons recounts in his book Valkyrie: The North American XB-70 – The USA’s Ill-Fated Supersonic Heavy Bomber, a short circuit in the gear retraction system allowed the airflow to push the nose gear back against the partially closed gear well door, slashing the tires. An attempt to lower the gear using the normal hydraulic system failed, and when Cotton tried the backup electrical system, he heard a “pop” as that system also went dead.
Al White first brought the XB-70 in for a touch-and-go landing, hoping that a hard touchdown on the main gear would jar the nose gear free and allow it to drop into the extended position. Even after a second attempt, though, the nose gear stayed stuck. At that stage, ejecting and sacrificing the aircraft was rapidly becoming the only remaining option.
Since they still had fuel, White and Cotton kept circling Edwards while engineers on the ground tried to diagnose the issue and find a fix. After more than two hours, they believed they had traced the backup system failure to a circuit breaker. All Cotton needed now was a way to short-circuit it. Naturally, the Valkyrie carried no onboard toolkit—that would have been too easy. But Cotton had brought his briefcase with notes and plans, and inside it he found a binder-style paperclip. He straightened the clip, gripped its middle with a leather glove, and carefully reached in to short out the breaker.
It did the trick.
However, the malfunction also left hydraulic pressure applied to three of the four main wheel brakes, locking them in place when the aircraft touched down at 173 knots. Fire crews at Edwards prevented any major damage to the aircraft, which was back in the air just over two weeks later.
The video below shows AV 2 coming to a stop on the main runway at Edwards AFB following the “paperclip flight” described in this article.
Photo by U.S. Air Force
