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Six dead after World War Two aircraft collide at Dallas air show, US
Two historical military aircraft collided and crashed to the ground Saturday, 12 November 2022, during a Dallas air show. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed at about 13h20, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement. The collision occurred during the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas show. Emergency crews raced to the crash scene at the Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles from the city’s downtown.
The B-17, an immense four-engine bomber, was a cornerstone of US air power during the Second World War. The Kingcobra, a US fighter aircraft, was used mostly by Soviet forces during the war. Most B-17s were scrapped at the end of the Second World War and only a handful remain today, largely featured at museums and air shows, according to Boeing. Hank Coates, president of the Commemorative Air Force, said that the families of crew members involved in the disaster as well as witnesses would be offered support, including emotional counselling. He declined to say exactly how many people were feared dead by officials but he said the B-17 typically carried four to five crewmembers while the P-63 had a seat only for the pilot. “Please … if you have it in your mind, express prayers and thoughts for the crews that were involved today, for the people that saw it, for the family members,” Coates said. “Obviously, this is a very challenging time for those families.” Several videos posted on Twitter showed the fighter plane appearing to fly into the bomber, causing them to quickly crash Live news footage from the scene showed people setting up orange cones around the crumpled wreckage of a bomber, which was in a grassy area. The Dallas mayor, Eric Johnson, said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had taken control of the crash scene, with local police and fire providing support. “The videos are heartbreaking,” he said on Twitter. Wings Over Dallas bills itself as “America’s premier world war II airshow”, according to a website advertising the event. The show was scheduled for 11 to 13 November, Veterans Day weekend and guests were to see more than 40 Second World War-era aircraft. The FAA and the NTSB were launching investigations. Preliminary reports may come out in the coming several days, but final findings may not be issued for more than a year. There have been a number of fatal crashes at US airshows in recent years. Eleven people were killed in 2011 in Reno, Nevada, after a P-51 Mustang crashed into spectators. In 2019, a bomber crashed in Hartford, Connecticut, killing seven people. Sources, The Guardian, The Associated Press, Sky News |
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