Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra.
Two of his World War II-era planes collided and crashed during a flyover at a memorial event in Texas on Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. According to Air Force Alert, six of his people were on board the two planes when they crashed.
Air Force Wings was attending his Dallas Air Show over when a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 King Cobra collided in the air near Dallas Executive Airport shortly before 1:30 p.m. I was. Local time, the FAA said.
According to the event's website, several aircraft will conduct a flyover demonstration on Saturday afternoon. Social media posts showed that hundreds of people had gathered to witness the flyover. The three-day event commemorated Friday's Heroes Day.
Anthony Montoya saw two planes collide.
"I was just standing there. I was completely shocked and in disbelief," said Montoya, 27, who attended the airshow with his friends. Everyone around me gasped. everyone is crying Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson all called it a "huge tragedy."
"The video is heartbreaking," he tweeted. "Pray today for the souls who soar into the sky to comfort and educate our families."
Officials didn't say how many people were on board, but Hank Coates, president of the company that runs the air show, said the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber usually has a crew of four to five. , The P-63 King Cobra has a single pilot.
The B-17 was his very large four-engine bomber that was the cornerstone of the United States Air Force during World War II. A US fighter, the King Cobra was used primarily by the Soviet military during the war. According to Boeing, most of the B-17s were scrapped at the end of World War II, and today only a few remain, mostly displayed in museums and air shows.
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| In this photo provided by Nathaniel Ross Photography, a historic military plane crashes after colliding with another plane during an airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. |
Coates of the Memorial Air Force, which owns the plane, said there were no paying customers on board. Their planes are flown by highly trained volunteers, many of whom are retired pilots, he said.
Some videos posted to Twitter appeared to show fighter jets flying towards the bomber, causing it to crash rapidly into the ground, igniting a large ball of flame and smoke.
Famous Air Force tester Victoria, the widow of his pilot Chuck Yeager and a pilot himself, also attended the event. He didn't see the crash, but he did see burning debris.
"It's smoothed out," says Yeager, 64, of Fort Worth.
"I wish everyone had escaped, but I know they didn't," he said of the passengers.
"It's absolutely terrifying to watch," said Aubrey Ann Young, 37, of Leander.Texas who saw the crash. His children were in the hangar with his father when it happened. "I'm still trying to figure it out."
In a video Young uploaded to his Facebook page, a woman can be heard hysterically crying next to him.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation.
Some videos posted to Twitter appeared to show fighter jets flying toward the bomber, causing it to crash rapidly into the ground, igniting a large ball of flame and smoke.
Famous Air Force test Victoria Yeager, the widow of her pilot Chuck Yeager and a pilot herself, also attended the event. He didn't see the crash, but he did see burning debris.
"It's smoothed out," says Yeager, 64, of Fort Worth.
"I wish everyone had escaped, but I know they didn't," he said of the passengers.
"Absolutely terrifying to watch," said Aubrey Ann Young, 37, of Leander.Texas who saw the crash. His children were in the hangar with his father when it happened. "I'm still trying to figure it out."
In a video Young uploaded to his Facebook page, a woman can be heard hysterically crying next to him.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation.
The safety of air shows, especially of older military aircraft, has been a concern for many years. In 2011, his P-51 Mustang crashed into a crowd in Reno, Nevada, killing 11 people. In 2019, seven people were killed in a bomber crash in Hartford, Connecticut. The NTSB later said it had investigated 21 of his accidents since 1982 involving World War II-era bombers that resulted in 23 fatalities.
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