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Two historic navy planes collided and crashed to the bottom Saturday throughout an air present in Dallas, exploding right into a ball of flames and sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. It was unclear how many individuals had been on board the plane or if anybody on the bottom was harm.
Leah Block, a spokesperson for Commemorative Air Power, which produced the Veterans Day weekend present and owned the crashed plane, instructed ABC Information she believed there have been 5 crew members on the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and one aboard the P-63 Kingcobra fighter airplane. The Houston-based plane weren’t giving rides to paying clients on the time, she mentioned.
Emergency crews raced to the crash scene on the Dallas Government Airport, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from town’s downtown. Reside TV information footage from the scene confirmed individuals establishing orange cones across the crumpled wreckage of the bomber, which was in a grassy space.
Anthony Montoya noticed the 2 planes collide.
“I simply stood there. I used to be in full shock and disbelief,” mentioned Montoya, 27, who attended the air present with a good friend. “Everyone round was gasping. Everyone was bursting into tears. Everyone was in shock.”
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson mentioned the Nationwide Transportation Security Board had taken management of the crash scene with native police and fireplace offering assist.
“The movies are heartbreaking,” Johnson mentioned on Twitter.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed round 1:20 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration mentioned in a press release. The collision occurred throughout the Commemorative Air Power Wings Over Dallas present.
Victoria Yeager, the widow of famed Air Power check pilot Chuck Yeager and herself a pilot, was additionally on the present. She did not see the collision, however did see the burning wreckage.
“It was pulverized,” mentioned Yeager, 64, who lives in Forth Value.
“We had been simply hoping they’d all gotten out, however we knew they did not,” she mentioned of these on board.
The B-17, an immense four-engine bomber, was a cornerstone of U.S. air energy throughout World Struggle II and is without doubt one of the most celebrated warplanes in U.S. historical past. The Kingcobra, a U.S. fighter airplane, was used largely by Soviet forces throughout the struggle. Most B-17s had been scrapped on the finish of World Struggle II and solely a handful stay as we speak, largely featured at museums and air reveals, in keeping with Boeing.
A number of movies posted on social media confirmed the fighter airplane showing to fly into the bomber, inflicting them to rapidly crash to the bottom and setting off a big ball of fireplace and smoke.
“It was actually horrific to see,” Aubrey Anne Younger, 37, of Leander. Texas, who noticed the crash. Her youngsters had been contained in the hangar with their father when it occurred. “I am nonetheless attempting to make sense of it.”
A lady subsequent to Younger may be heard crying and screaming hysterically on a video that Younger uploaded to her Fb web page.
Air present security – notably with older navy plane – has been a priority for years. In 2011, 11 individuals had been killed in Reno, Nevada, when a P-51 Mustang crashed into spectators. In 2019, a bomber crashed in Hartford, Connecticut, killing seven individuals. The NTSB mentioned then that it had investigated 21 accidents since 1982 involving World Struggle II-era bombers, leading to 23 deaths.
Wings Over Dallas payments itself as “America’s Premier World Struggle II Airshow,” in keeping with an internet site promoting the occasion. The present was scheduled for Nov. 11-13, Veterans Day weekend, and friends had been to see greater than 40 World Struggle II-era aircrafts. Its Saturday afternoon schedule included flying demonstrations together with a “bomber parade” and “fighter escorts” featured the B-17 and P-63.
Movies of earlier Wings Over Dallas occasions depict classic warplanes flying low, generally in shut formation, on simulated strafing or bombing runs. The movies additionally present the planes performing aerobatic stunts.
The FAA was additionally launching an investigation, officers mentioned.
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