7 dead, 7 injured in crash of World War II bomber in Connecticut airport
HARTFORD, Conn. — At least seven people were killed and seven were injured when a World War IIera bomber crashed shortly after taking off from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks Wednesday morning, officials said.
The B-17G bomber crashed shortly before 10 a.m. local time, bursting into flames and sending up a large plume of smoke that could be seen for miles. Airport Administrator Kevin Dillon said the aircraft crashed into an airport building as it was trying to make an emergency landing.
State public safety Commissioner James Rovella would not say how many were killed. “It’s far too early to say,” he said during a briefing at the Sheraton hotel at the airport.
He confirmed there were 10 passengers and three crew members on the bomber. One person on the ground was injured when the airplane struck a small building and tanks that hold de-icing fluid.
The airplane was largely consumed by the fire, which was fed by the aircraft’s fuel. The left wing and tail appear to be all that remains of the airplane. The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a “go team” to the airport to investigate the crash. The Connecticut State Police, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security also are investigating.
The bomber was owned by the Collings Foundation, a Massachusetts nonprofit that restores World War II-era aircraft. The aircraft travel the county and are open for people to tour. The Bradley stop was the organization’s third in Connecticut in the past month.
The organization also offers 30- to 40-minute flight experiences on its aircraft. It was departing on one of those flights when the crash occurred. It was one of five planes, two fighter planes and three bombers, that were at the airport this week for tours and flights through the organization’s Wings of Freedom Tour. The B-17 was one of about 10 in the country considered to be airworthy.
The four other aircraft Collings flew into Bradley on Monday remain at Tac Air on the airport’s east side.
Sources told the Hartford Courant that at least seven people were killed in the crash and authorities fear the number will go higher. It took hours for rescuers to reach the front of the airplane where the pilot and co-pilot were seated.
“I got a call from the commissioner a while ago and he said, ‘It looks pretty bad,’” Lamont said at the briefing. “And coming over here as fast as we can, we saw the fire engines and the responders and the red lights, the last of the smoke plumes ... it was giving us a sense of what we were confronting.”
Lamont said officials would get information to victims’ family members as soon as possible.
“Right now, my heart really goes out to the families who are waiting,” Lamont said. “We’re going to give them the best information we can, as soon as we can in an honest way.”
Three of the six victims taken to Hartford Hospital are in critical condition, said Dr. Jonathan Gates, chief of the hospital’s trauma department, in a separate news conference. Two have moderate injuries, and one was described as “minimally injured.” Two of the injured were transferred to Bridgeport Hospital for treatment of burns, officials said. Other passengers were taken to Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford.
The 103rd Airlift Wing of the Connecticut Air National Guard said one of its members was a passenger on the flight. The guard member was injured and taken to Hartford Hospital, said Maj. Gen. Francis Evon, the adjutant general of the Connecticut National Guard. Other guard members joined in the rescue effort, he said.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, two other passengers were members of the Simsbury Volunteer Fire Department.