ITEM OF THE WEEK
AEROSPACE ANNIVERSARIES IN JUNE SUITABLE FOR OUTREACH PROGRAMMING
Originally appeared June 1, 2026
The upcoming month has five “round-number” anniversaries around which engaging public outreach programs could be built: the 60th anniversary of the loss of the Valkyrie bomber (June 8), the 85th anniversary of the creation of the U.S. Army Air Force (June 20), the 65th of the launch of the first satellite powered by an RTG (June 29), the 70th anniversary of the terrible Grand Canyon air disaster that led to the creation of the FAA (June 30), and the dedication of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (7/1).
June 8, 1966: Tex Walker and the Loss of the Valkyrie
The B-52 bomber was built to carry nuclear weapons very long distances to their targets, and had a long record of carrying conventional munitions in Korea and Vietnam. It could fly high and fast, but Air Force strategists of the late 1950s needed a supersonic bomber as its future replacement. A lot of aeronautical, financial, and political issues were involved, but North American was finally able to build two prototypes of the XB-70, nicknamed the “Valkyrie,” capable of flying at Mach 3+ at 70,000 feet. Such performance would make it invulnerable to defensive fighters of the time. But missile technology was advancing rapidly, too, and when the Russian SA-2 missile was used to shoot down Francis Gary Powers in 1960, the vulnerabilities of the Valkyrie to missile fire were exposed, bringing the future of the B-70 into doubt. The two prototypes were finished anyway, but the Valkyrie program was canceled in 1961. The two Valkyries were redesignated XB-70A (AV-1 and AV-2) and were used for supersonic test flights from 1964-1969.
The Valkyrie had a number of problems uncovered during initial flight testing. On one occasion, an electrical problem prevented the lowering of its landing gear, until the test pilot Joe Cotton used a paper clip to jump a bad circuit breaker. Imagine saving a $750M plane (in 1966 dollars) with a paper clip worth at most a few pennies!
The Valkyrie engines were built by General Electric, as were many military jet engines. Their PR department wanted a good visual to showcase their engines, and arranged for a photo op of a number of military jets using GE engines, including the Valkyrie. The request for the group flight did not go through proper channels and was not officially approved.
Sixty years ago, on June 8, 1966, XB-70A AV-2 flew in formation with an F-4 Phantom, an F-5, a T-38, and an F-104 Starfighter, along with a photo plane. Experienced X-15 pilot Joe Walker, NASA’s Chief Research Test Pilot, was driving the F-104, and the Valkyrie was commanded by Al White, The Valkyrie program Chief Test Pilot, who had been assigned to the X-15 program in its later stages and never got a flight. His co-pilot was Carl Spencer Cross, a 40-year-old WWII vet with some Vietnam combat flight experience, on his first mission in the XB-70A. The Valkyrie flew a few tests, then formed up with the other planes for photos.
The delta wing of the Valkyrie had a hinged tip that could generate strong vortices, the detailed aerodynamics of which were not fully understood. For whatever reason, not being able to see the Valkyrie’s wing tip as he approached or a desire to have a real tight formation to make a dramatic photo, Walker’s F-104 hit the right wing of the Valkyrie and was whipped into a half-roll and slung to the left, shearing off the right vertical fin of the Valkyrie completely, and most of the left. The F-104 exploded, killing Walker instantly. The Valkyrie flew on for a few seconds, and then went into a flat spin.
Bailing out of a damaged airplane in the jet age was a lot tougher than getting out of a cockpit and jumping off the wing. Aerodynamic forces were too strong to climb out in, so some sort of ejection seat was used. That would work well for faster sub-sonic flights, but the wind blast at Mach 1+ caused severe injuries, and at Mach 3, there would be no way for an unprotected pilot to survive.
The Valkyrie had a new system for protecting the pilots during a high-speed ejection. Their seats would retract backwards into a clamshell-like pod, the pod would close, and then be rocketed from the dying Valkyrie.
Al White ejected, but his arm was hurt badly when it got caught in the clamshell mechanism, and he suffered other injuries during his ordeal. Cross was unable to retract his seat into the pod, likely due to centrifugal forces caused by the Valkyrie’s spin, and he died in the crash.
The Valkyrie was already obsolete as a deep-penetration bomber, because of possible Russian countermeasures, and after the loss of AV-2, the testing program was canceled, too. AV-1 is now on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, along with X-15 #2. X-15 #1 is at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
References
https://fighterjetsworld.com/air/xb-70-valkyrie-mid-air-collision-with-nasa-f-104n-starfighter/4896 (description of crash)
https://www.talesfromthedesert.com/portfolio/xb-70-valkyrie-crash-site
Alvin S. White: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_S._White
Carl S. Cross: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37954719/carl-spencer-cross
Joe Walker: https://www.nasa.gov/content/cowboy-joe and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker
June 20, 1941: General “Hap” Arnold and the USSAF
General Harold “Hap” Arnold had been an advocate of air power from back in the days with Billy Mitchell. At first, Arnold’s perspective seemed to emphasize using air power defensively. One of his first projects at air chief was to develop the B-17 “Flying Fortress” long-range, heavily-armed bomber. The B-17’s primary mission, at first, was scouting and coastal defense; the “Fortress” in the nickname meant the B-17 would extend the range of effective coastal defense that a castle would have had back in the olden days. He soon began to take more of a strategic view, realizing that long-range aircraft could damage a foe’s ability to make war. He had been attuned to the importance of military hardware and logistics for a long time, and his knowledge and skill sets were growing as fast as his career.
General Arnold was also a big believer in using outside expertise in the aeronautical advancements he knew were possible. He knew that the same interrelationship I’ve mentioned in the past, where scientific inquiry and the technology that enables it are intertwined. Arnold knew that capability required the best tools and personnel available, and reached out to Cal Tech and the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory’s ace aerodynamicist, Theodore von Kármán.
War clouds loomed, and the Air Corps was dealing with internal organization issues. Eighty-five years ago, on June 20, 1941, the Air Corps and the GHQ Air Force were merged into a new entity, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), with Arnold in charge. Two days later, the Germans invaded Russia. The next month, President Roosevelt asked Arnold and his Air War Plans Division to prepare a plan and the logistical needs it would require, that would accomplish four objectives: general defense of the Western Hemisphere, general defense strategy against Japan, a strategic air campaign in Europe, and a strategic air campaign against Japan.
The plan had to be ambitious in order to accommodate tasks the magnitude of Roosevelt’s request, and would have to entail a lot of logistical considerations. Arnold and his team called it “AWPD/1,” and estimated that the new USAAF would have to expand to a fleet of 60,000 aircraft of all types, requiring a force of 2.1 million men, for the plan to be successful. The plan also contained recommendations to pursue aggressively the development of evermore sophisticated and capable aircraft, including the B-29 and the B-36, then just concepts on the drawing board.
Arnold was promoted to Lieutenant General on December 15, 1941, a week after Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt issued an Executive Order that granted Arnold’s USAAF full autonomy and separation from the U.S. Army’s ground forces and supply. He was officially named the Commanding General of the USAAF, and he joined both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Chiefs of Staff. He immediately took action to increase the logistical estimates made initially, and to aggressively implement the revised AWPD/1 Plan.
Arnold took pains to be more inclusive in his approach to personnel than was generally the trend in those days. He still backed a segregated Army, but did recognize the role women could play in defense of the country. He ordered the creation of the USAAF’s Women’s Flying Training Detachment, to be directed by famed aviator Jacqueline Cochrane. The unit morphed into the Women Airforce Service Pilots, with many women serving as pilots in non-combat situations.
References
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107811/henry-h-arnold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_H._Arnold
There are exhibitions of Arnold-related artifacts at the National Museum of the USAF (https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196838/gen-henry-h-hap-arnold-artifacts) and at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (e.g.https://www.si.edu/object/nasm_A19610010003)
Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-gen-henry-hap-arnold-architect-american-air-power-overcame-his-fear-flying-180977206
Air & Space Forces Magazine: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0997hap
History of the National Air and Space Museum: Factsheet:https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/factsheets/national-air-and-space-museum-history; Arnold’s Evolution: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0913evolution
June 29,1961: Launch of the Transit-4A Satellite
Solar power works well for Earth-orbiting satellites, and spacecraft in the inner half of the Solar System. However, there are platforms for which solar panels are less-than-optimally desirable, such as a long-duration military reconnaissance satellite needing to be more stealthy or spacecraft going past Jupiter.
The initial solution to military satellite power tried by the Russians utilized a fission nuclear reactor with thermoionic fuel elements in its core. Material would vaporize from the hot end of the elements in the core, then condense at the cooler end of the fuel element, creating a current. The operating temperature of the system made Earth-bound applications impractical, but for a space-borne system, it worked pretty well, until it didn’t.
The USSR, USA, France, and Germany all conducted research into reactor systems for spaceborne power. The USSR launched a number of military satellites in the two decades from 1967-1988. On January 24, 1978, Russian military satellite Kosmos 954 suffered an uncontrolled reentry over northwestern Canada. The casing of the reactor was breeched, but much of its highly-radioactive innards did not burn up. Radioactive debris was scattered over a wide area, from Great Slave Lake to Saskatchewan.
The USSR and Canada were signatories to the 1972 Space Liability Convention, which made the launching nation responsible for any damage one of their wayward spacecraft might cause. A joint Canada-USA team conducted a clean-up operation called Operation Morning Light. The task was daunting; the debris field covered ~48,000 square miles! Twelve pieces of Kosmos 954 were eventually recovered, ten of which were radioactive, and one of those was very radioactive. Canada billed the USSR over six million dollars (Canadian); the Russians eventually and grudgingly coughed up only half that.
Kosmos 954 was not the first satellite with this dangerous power system lost. A similar satellite went down in 1973 in the north Pacific. After Kosmos 954, Kosmos 1402 also failed, crashing into the South Atlantic in 1983. The USSR then outfitted subsequent satellites of this type with a mechanism that could eject the core of a malfunctioning satellite into a “safe disposal orbit.” The new system received a successful acid test when Kosmos 1900 failed in 1988.
Kosmos 954 and the satellites like it were RORSATs, Radar Ocean Reconnaissance satellites, whose primary purpose was to track naval ships on the high seas (metal ships give large radar returns). The radar system then in use required a lot of power, hence, the reactor system.
But there were many satellite applications that did not require as much power, and advances in radar and other technologies reduced the power requirements for ocean reconnaissance. At the same time the Kosmos system was in full use, an alternative heat source for generating electrical power directly was developed, one without the danger and complexity of using a reactor.
The result was the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), and its first use by the USA was on the tiny Transit 4A subsatellite launched by the Navy on June 29, 1961, sixty-five years ago.
References
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator
Stanford: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2013/ph241/jiang1
NASA Radioisotope Power Systems: https://rps.nasa.gov
NASA Multi-Mission RTG: https://mars.nasa.gov/internal_resources/788
NASA Thermal and Power Systems: https://rps.nasa.gov/power-and-thermal-systems/power-systems
June 30 1946: The Grand Canyon Mid-Air Collision and the Birth of the FAA
Airline travel in the 1950s was significantly looser than it is today. Passengers smoked at will, and security was lax (the spate of hijackings that tightened things up came 10-20 years later). Airplanes flying routes in the eastern half of the U.S. pretty much stuck rigorously to their assigned corridor, but in the west, air traffic mid-route was sparser, and many pilots enjoyed showing off some of the spectacles of the West as a bonus to their customers. The Grand Canyon was particularly popular in that respect. Airliners flew under the guidance of ground control much of the way the two planes would fly, but there was a zone of “uncontrolled airspace” over the Colorado Plateau. There the pilots would be on their own, under “visual flight rules,” where the pilots were fully responsible for looking out for hazards.
Seventy years ago, on June 30, 1956, United Flight 718 left Chicago, bound for L.A. At almost the same time, TWA Flight 2 departed from L.A., heading for Kansas City. The TWA flight was a Super Constellation; the United flight was a DC-7. Both pilots were thinking about doing a little sight-seeing, in spite of there being a lot of scattered clouds along the way.
TWA’s pilot was assigned a cruising altitude of 19000 feet. He requested a higher route, 21000 feet, to help avoid the worst of the cloudiness ahead. The controller assigned to the flight declined permission, but agreed to a “1000 feet above the cloud cover” follow-up request, thinking the TWA would be much higher than 21000. The United flight was assigned to 21000 feet. Visual flight rules prevailed; neither plane was being observed by radar or otherwise guided from the ground. Both pilots were dodging clouds, trying to get the best Canyon views for their passenger’s viewing pleasure.
At 10:32 AM PST, the two planes collided.
The United plane’s left wing and propeller took the tail off the TWA plane. The United plane’s left wing outboard of #1 engine was removed, engine #1 was destroyed, and #2 was likely stopped. As a consequence, it went into an uncontrollable spin. Its pilot did manage a garbled radio call before slamming into the Chuar Butte (east of the National Park’s eastern entrance, near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers). The nature of the collision, and the way it hit the ground, left most of its fuselage intact, but hanging atop a large cliff. No doubt most of its passengers were relatively uninjured prior to impact. The tail and fuselage sections of the TWA flight landed separately amid a cloud of debris, closer to the Colorado River than the United wreckage. They were completely demolished.
All 126 passengers and crew aboard both aircraft were killed, the largest air disaster to date. Access was so difficult that a team of Swiss high-altitude rescue experts had to be brought in to recover evidence and human remains.
Post-crash analysis indicates that the United plane was in a descending right bank when the collision occurred, perhaps due to a last-minute attempt at evasive action. Its left engine chopped a series of gashes in the bottom of the TWA plane’s fuselage. Both planes were pressurized, and the distribution of debris from the TWA plane is suggestive of explosive decompression.
The collision’s number of deaths and the fact that both aircraft ended up in a major National Park generated intense public interest. The few airplane tour operators in business at that time were kept busy ferrying news photographers to the site, even though landing was not possible. Access to the crash sites was extremely difficult, even today it involves a 36-mile round-trip hike over very tough terrain, after getting special permission from the NPS.
Air travel had grown very quickly prior to the accident, tripling in volume in the decade following WWII. But the infrastructure and safety procedures had not kept pace with the growth and were totally inadequate, as illustrated so completely by the tragic collision over the Canyon.
The post-crash report noted that the pilots did not see each other until it was too late. Investigators listed several factors contributing the disaster, including: Intervening clouds, obstructing cockpit supports, distraction of tour guide behavior, and inadequate facilities and personnel for full air traffic control. This would be the last major airplane crash prior to the inclusion of cockpit recorders.
Today, much of the larger debris is still there, or somewhat downhill, but much of the smaller pieces have succumbed to the elements. The site is officially closed to the public, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014.
Pressure for better airline flight safety grew from both the public and the airline industry had been brewing for some time prior to the Grand Canyon accident, but that crash catalyzed action, especially when the investigation showed how primitive air traffic control was in some key spots around the country. People were shocked to learn that both aircraft were “off airways,” independent from all assistance from the ground, in spite of having so many passengers under their responsibility. Congress responded by holding a series of hearings, upping the 1957 budget for the ATC, and passing the Federal Aviation Agency Act of 1958, which President Eisenhower signed into law. The Act created the Federal Aviation Agency, and transferred the functions of the CAA to it. USAF General Elwood “Pete” Quesada was the first FAA Administrator. You might remember him as one of the five aviators who flew the “Question Mark” on a series of aerial refueling missions in the late 1920’s, along with future Air Force leaders, Ira Eaker and Carl Spaatz.
References
https://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history
Detailed resource: https://www.faa.gov/about/history/historical_perspective
https://simpleflying.com/faa-100-years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_government_role_in_civil_aviation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Grand_Canyon_mid-air_collision
July 1, 1976: Mike Collins, the Viking Mars Landings, and the National Air and Space Museum
Immediately after WWII, “Hap” Arnold and other key military figures pushed for a museum to commemorate the USA’s victory, particularly the role played by air power. They arranged for a number of important planes and other artifacts be set aside. Congress agreed, well, a bit. They passed an authorization bill to create a National Air Museum under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, on August 12, 1946.
But Congress failed to pass an appropriation bill that would allow the building of the museum needed to house and showcase the planes and artifacts available!
Interest generated by the launch of Sputnik 1 was not sufficient to spur the appropriation. Neither was the donation to the NAM of Shepard’s and Glenn’s Mercury capsules. The nascent collection was moved to the Arts and Industries Building in 1963. The museum expanded its scope, and its name, becoming the National Air and Space Museum in 1966. Still no appropriation. Apollo 11 spiked public interest further. Still no bucks. Senator Barry Goldwater, a retired USAF major general, pushed hard in the Senate for funding, especially in a speech there in in May, 1970. STILL no appropriation.
Senator Goldwater was many things, but a quitter was not one of them. And he picked up a powerful ally along the way. One Michael Collins. Oh, and growing public support, too. The Senator and the history-oriented Astronaut pushed very hard, and finally, Congress relented and appropriated a total of $40 million in support. This was significantly less than the amount desired, and would force some serious “value engineering.” Economies were necessary, and one would come back and bite NASM, forty years and 350 million visitors later.
But who should lead the enormous effort of creating and filling a large museum, on a short time fuse? Who else: Michael Collins!
The tasks Collins faced were formidable, indeed. He had to: Oversee the planning and construction of the new building, ensure that it would open in time for the Bicentennial, hire museum staff, oversee the construction of the galleries the new museum would contain, and found the still-extant Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, one of the three academic units at NASM. Collins soft-pedaled the magnitude of the task when he said it was a “monumental effort” requiring tons of “dedicated teamwork and plain hard work.”
He accomplished all tasks brilliantly. NASM opened on time, had over a million visitors in its first month, and quickly established itself as one of the top four museums in the world in terms of visitorship (two of the other three are Smithsonian units: The National American History Museum and the National Museum of Natural History. The Louvre rounds out the quartet).
CODA: The opening of the National Air and Space Museum on July 1, 1976 was a very big deal. Not only was it the Nation’s Bicentennial, and the Viking 1 spacecraft was poised to make the very first soft landing on Mars. What better way was there to officially open the building than by having the ceremonial ribbon be cut by a replica of the Viking sampling arm, actuated by a signal from the Viking spacecraft? That’s exactly what they did! President Ford was in attendance, as was VP Nelson Rockefeller and Chief Justice Warren Burger. See the references for links!
Collins somehow found the time to author (without assistance) arguably the best of the astronaut (auto)biographies, Carrying the Fire, in 1974. I find the comparison of going to the Moon and stealing Fire from the Gods to be quite beautiful.
Collins retired from the Air Force Reserves in 1982, with a rank of Major General.
Collins was absolutely the right guy in the right place at the right time. He had the necessary combination of education, training, experience, military rank, fame, and political savvy to balance all of the many competing forces buffeting the new museum during its creation and formative years. He held the Directorship until 1978, when he promoted to become Undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collins was as non-idle in “retirement” as his uncle. After the Smithsonian, he was the VP at a major aerospace company, and then formed his own consulting agency. He also wrote several other books, including one for children, and enjoyed painting watercolors.
References
Collins, Michael, Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journey, (40th Anniversary Edition, 2009), Strauss and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374531942
Apollo 11 Mission Report: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11MIssionReport_1971015566.pdf
Project Gemini: https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4203/toc.htm
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(astronaut)
NASM: Reflect On His Legacy: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/remembering-michael-collins
NASM: Statement from Director: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/carrying-fire
Opening of the National Air and Space Museum
Video clip of NASM Opening (narrated by NASM’s Don Lopez!): here
SI Archives: https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_396616
NASM Stories: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/new-milestones