By LM OTERO and JILL BLEED
DALLAS (AP) — Two historic navy plane collided and crashed Saturday throughout an air present in Dallas, exploding right into a ball of flames and sending black smoke billowing into the sky. It was not clear how many individuals had been on board.
Emergency crews raced to the crash scene on the Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the town’s downtown. News footage from the scene confirmed crumpled wreckage of the planes in a grassy space contained in the airport perimeter. Dallas Fire-Rescue advised The Dallas Morning News that there have been no reported accidents amongst individuals on the bottom.
Anthony Montoya noticed the 2 planes collide.
“I just stood there. I was in complete shock and disbelief,” mentioned Montoya, 27, who attended the air present with a buddy. “Everybody around was gasping. Everybody was bursting into tears. Everybody was in shock.”
Officials wouldn’t say how many individuals had been on board the planes, however Hank Coates, president of the corporate that placed on the airshow, mentioned one of many planes, a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, sometimes has a crew of 4 to 5 individuals. The different, a P-63 Kingcobra fighter airplane, has a single pilot.
No paying prospects had been on the plane, mentioned Coates, of Commemorative Air Force, which additionally owned the planes. Their plane are flown by extremely educated volunteers, typically retired pilots, he mentioned.
A group of National Transportation Safety Board investigators will arrive on the scene of the crash on Sunday.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson mentioned the NTSB had taken management of the crash scene, with native police and fireplace offering help.
“The videos are heartbreaking,” Johnson mentioned on Twitter.
The planes collided and crashed round 1:20 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration mentioned in a press release. The collision occurred throughout the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas present.
Victoria Yeager, the widow of famed Air Force check pilot Chuck Yeager and herself a pilot, was additionally on the present. She didn’t see the collision, however did see the burning wreckage.
“It was pulverized,” mentioned Yeager, 64, who lives in Fort Worth.
“We were just hoping they had all gotten out, but we knew they didn’t,” she mentioned of these on board.
The B-17, a cornerstone of U.S. air energy throughout World War II, is an immense four-engine bomber utilized in daylight raids towards Germany. The Kingcobra, a U.S. fighter airplane, was used largely by Soviet forces throughout the warfare. Most B-17s had been scrapped on the finish of World War II and solely a handful stay at this time, largely featured at museums and air reveals, in line with Boeing.
Several movies posted on social media confirmed the fighter airplane showing to fly into the bomber, inflicting them to shortly crash to the bottom and setting off a big ball of fireplace and smoke.
“It was really horrific to see,” Aubrey Anne Young, 37, of Leander. Texas, who noticed the crash. Her kids had been contained in the hangar with their father when it occurred. “I’m still trying to make sense of it.”
A lady subsequent to Young might be heard crying and screaming hysterically on a video that Young uploaded to her Facebook web page.
Air present security – significantly 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 War II-era bombers, leading to 23 deaths.
Wings Over Dallas payments itself as “America’s Premier World War II Airshow,” in line with a web site promoting the occasion. The present was scheduled for Nov. 11-13, Veterans Day weekend, and company had been to see greater than 40 World War II-era plane. Its Saturday afternoon schedule of flying demonstrations included the “bomber parade” and “fighter escorts” that featured the B-17 and P-63.
Videos 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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Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Bobby Caina Calvan in New York City, Ken Miller in Oklahoma City and Dave Kolpack in Fargo, N.D. contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”