Walker's F-104 clips the Valkyrie's wingtip; both aircraft are down over the Mojave

Six aircraft held formation over the Mojave Desert on June 8, 1966, arranged by General Electric for a publicity shoot celebrating the common engine shared by all five military jets. NASA test pilot Joe Walker — the first civilian American to reach space, a man who had flown the X-15 to 108 kilometers — was flying an F-104N Starfighter on the right wing of the massive XB-70 Valkyrie prototype. Walker's F-104 drifted into the XB-70's right wingtip, flipped inverted over the bomber, and struck both vertical stabilizers and the left wing before exploding. The Valkyrie entered an uncontrollable spin and crashed north of Barstow, California, killing Walker and XB-70 co-pilot USAF Major Carl Cross. The formation flight had not been authorized by the Air Force…