Six killed as wartime bomber and fighter plane collide at air show in US
SIX people were killed when two historic military planes collided and crashed during a Dallas air show, officials said yesterday.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted: “According to our Dallas County Medical Examiner, there are a total of six fatalities from yesterday’s Wings Over Dallas air show incident.”
He said authorities were continuing to work to identify the victims.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed at around 1.20pm on Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration 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 centre. News footage from the scene showed crumpled wreckage of the planes in a grassy area inside the airport perimeter.
Dallas Fire-rescue told the Dallas Morning News that there were no reported injuries among people on the ground.
Anthony Montoya saw the two planes collide.
“I just stood there. I was in complete shock and disbelief,” said Mr Montoya, 27, who attended the air show with a friend.
“Everybody around was gasping. Everybody was bursting into tears. Everybody was in shock.”
Officials did not specify how many people were inside each plane but Hank Coates, president of the company that put on the airshow, said one of the planes – a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber – typically had a crew of four to five people. The other, a P-63 Kingcobra fighter plane, had a single pilot.
No paying customers were on the aircraft, Mr Coates, of Commemorative Air Force, which also owned the planes, said.
Their aircraft were flown by highly-trained volunteers, often retired pilots, he said.
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,” Mr Johnson said on Twitter.
The B-17, a cornerstone of US air power during the Second World War, is an immense four-engine bomber which was used in daylight raids against Germany. The Kingcobra, a US fighter plane, was used mostly by Soviet forces during the war.