I dimly remember the crash of the XB-70. I was a 9 1/2-year-old kid, and I saw the rather terrifying photo spread in Life magazine documenting the accident. Living in Dayton, aircraft disasters tended to have a little more oomph with us.

I don't remember that I understood the cause of the mishap; Life tends to be a little short on explanations. I guess I figured that there was some bit of technology that just didn't work; that's what experimental projects are all about, right? (I didn't even know that there were two planes, AV/1 and AV/2, and that more than 100 test flights were made.)

Now I have much more of the story, thanks to Steven Levin. The last flight of AV/2 was essentially a photo op.

(Thanks to things magazine.)

posted: 10:00:58 PM  

I updated the summary data page to reflect activity in the Wood Duck program this year. Counting the Hooded Merganser activity, this is our earliest recorded laying date (March 1) and our latest recorded hatch date (July 14). It's also our best year for number of fledglings since 1993.

posted: 9:37:31 PM