Two military aircraft collide and crash at World War II airshow in Texas
Two World War II-era airplanes collided and crashed on Saturday at an air show in Dallas, US aviation authorities confirmed. As per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) statement, “The incident early on Saturday afternoon involved a World War Two-era Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter that were flying at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport.” Two military aircraft collide and crash at World War II airshow in Texas.
The planes collided and crashed around 1:20 p.m., the FAA said in a statement. The collision occurred during the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas show.It was not immediately clear how many people were in the two aircraft. As per report by local affiliate of ABC News broadcaster, six people are feared dead.
Emergency crews rushed to the site of the crash, airport officials said on Twitter, but it was unclear how many people were aboard the two aircraft, the FAA said. Hank Coates, the president and CEO of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), a group dedicated to the preservation of World War Two combat aircraft, told a news conference the B-17 normally has a crew of four to five people.
The P-63 is manned by a single pilot, Coates added, but would not say how many people were aboard the aircraft at the time of the crash, their name or their condition. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said the National Transportation Safety Board had taken control of the crash scene with local police and fire providing support.
“The videos are heartbreaking,” Johnson said on Twitter.In a recent update on Twitter, the Mayor said that number of casualties are not confirmed but no spectators were reported injured. Video clips posted on social media captured the incident as it unfolded, showing the two aircraft colliding and crashing on the ground, engulfed by flames. Scenes from live aerial video showed debris from the aircrafts scattered on a patch of browned grass at the site of the collision.
The B-17, an immense four-engine bomber, was a cornerstone of U.S. air power during World War II and is one of the most celebrated warplanes in U.S. history. The Kingcobra, a U.S. fighter plane, was used mostly by Soviet forces during the war.Most B-17s were scrapped at the end of World War II and only a handful remain today, largely featured at museums and air shows, according to Boeing, as per AP report.
Air show safety – particularly with older military aircraft – has been a concern for years. In 2011, 11 people were killed in Reno, Nevada, when a P-51 Mustang crashed into spectators. In 2019, a bomber crashed in Hartford, Connecticut, killing seven people. The NTSB said then that it had investigated 21 accidents since 1982 involving World War II-era bombers, resulting in 23 deaths.
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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 November 11-13, Veterans Day weekend, and guests were to see more than 40 World War II-era aircraft. Its Saturday afternoon schedule of flying demonstrations included the “bomber parade” and “fighter escorts” that featured the B-17 and P-63.
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