Statement by the President on the Death of Test Pilots Joseph A. Walker and Carl S. Cross.
JOE WALKER and Major Cross gave their lives in advancing science and technology. Their deaths remind us how dependent we are on men of exceptional ability in the development of new vehicles in flight.
They died while training for demanding assignments in a new field of major national interest--research on supersonic transport flight. They added immeasurably to the progress this Nation is making in that effort.
I extend my deepest sympathies to their families.
Note: Mr. Walker, chief research pilot for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Air Force Major Cross were killed in an in-flight collision during testing of the experimental XB-70A bomber near Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on June 8.
The statement was read by Bill D. Moyers, Special Assistant to the President, at his news conference at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8, 1966, at the White House. It was not made public in the form of a White House press release.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Death of Test Pilots Joseph A. Walker and Carl S. Cross. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238829