Two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground during an air show in Dallas on Saturday (local time), exploding into a ball of flames and sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.
It wasn’t known how many people were in the plane or if there were any casualties on the ground.
There were reportedly six crew members on the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and one on the P-63 Kingcobra fighter plane, according to Leah Block, a spokesperson for Commemorative Air Force, which organised the Veterans Day weekend event and owned the crashed aircraft.
She claimed that at the time, the Houston-based aircraft were not providing rides to paying passengers.
Emergency crews raced to the crash scene at the Dallas Executive Airport, about 16km from the city’s downtown.
In real-time broadcast footage from the incident, bystanders were seen erecting orange cones around the bomber’s crumbled remains, which were in a grassy area.
The two planes collided in front of Anthony Montoya.
“I remained still. The air show went down when Montoya, 27, and a buddy were there. “I was in full shock and astonishment,” Montoya said. “Everyone in the area was gasping. Everyone started crying at once. Everyone was stunned.
”
The National Transportation Safety Board had taken charge of the crash site, according to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, with assistance from the local police and fire departments.
Johnson wrote on Twitter, “The videos are heartbreaking.”
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed around 1. 20pm, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. During the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas performance, there was a collision.
Victoria Yeager, a pilot herself and the widow of renowned Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager, attended the event. She missed the collision but saw the onfire debris.
“It was crushed, “Yeager, a 64-year-old Forth Worth resident, said.
“She stated of those on board, “We were simply praying they had all gotten out, but we knew they didn’t.
The B-17, an immense four-engine bomber, was a cornerstone of US air power during World War II and is one of the most celebrated warplanes in U. S.
history. During the conflict, Soviet forces mostly used the US Kingcobra fighter plane. According to Boeing, the majority of B-17s were destroyed at the end of World War II, and today there are only a small number that are mostly displayed at museums and air shows.
Several videos posted on social media showed the fighter plane appearing to fly into the bomber, causing them to quickly crash to the ground and setting off a large ball of fire and smoke.
It was very appalling to witness, “37-year-old Aubrey Anne Young watched the collision. When it happened, her kids and their father were in the hangar. “I’m still attempting to understand it.”
A video that Young posted to her Facebook page features a woman crying and yelling hysterically next to her.
Safety at air shows has long been an issue, especially with older military aircraft. In 2011, 11 people were killed in Reno, Nevada, when a P-51 Mustang crashed into spectators.
Seven people were killed when a bomber crashed in Hartford, Connecticut, in 2019. The NTSB reported at the time that it has looked into 21 accidents involving bombers from World War II since 1982, which had led to 23 fatalities.
A website promoting the event refers to Wings Over Dallas as “America’s Premier World War II Airshow.”
The show was scheduled for Veterans Day weekend, and guests were to see more than 40 World War II-era aircrafts.
The B-17 and P-63 were featured in the “fighter escorts” and “bomber parade” on its afternoon schedule of flying displays.
Vintage warplanes can be seen flying low, often in tight formation, during simulated strafing or bombing runs in videos of prior Wings Over Dallas events. The planes can be seen performing aerobatic tricks in the videos as well.
According to officials, the FAA was also starting an investigation.
Dramatic moment during US air show when two WWII planes crash
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