DALLAS (AP) – Two historic military aircraft collided Saturday and crashed to the ground during an air show in Dallas, federal officials said, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky. It was not clear how many people were on board the plane or if anyone on the ground was injured.
Anthony Montoya saw the two planes collide.
“I just stood there. I was in complete shock and disbelief,” said Montoya, 27, who attended the air show with a friend. “Everyone in the neighborhood was snapping. Everyone burst into tears. Everyone was shocked.”
Emergency services rushed to the crash site at the Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city center.
Live TV news footage of the scene showed people lining up orange cones around the crumpled wreckage of the bomber, which was located in a grassy field.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed around 1:20 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The collision occurred during the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas show.
The B-17, an immense four-engined bomber, was a cornerstone of the United States Air Force during World War II. The Kingcobra, an American fighter jet, was mainly used by Soviet troops during the war. Most of the B-17s were scrapped at the end of World War II, and only a handful remain today, most of which are on display in museums and air shows, according to Boeing.
Several videos posted to Twitter showed the fighter jet appearing to fly into the bomber, causing them to quickly crash to the ground, setting off a large ball of fire and smoke.
“It was really horrible to watch,” Aubrey Anne Young, 37, from Leander. Texas, who saw the crash. Her children were in the hangar with their father when it happened. “I’m still trying to figure it out.”
A woman next to Young can be heard crying and screaming hysterically in a video Young uploaded to her Facebook page.
The safety of air shows – especially on 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 onlookers. In 2019, a bomber crashed in Hartford, Connecticut, killing seven people. The NTSB said it had investigated 21 World War II bomber accidents since 1982, with 23 fatalities.
Wings Over Dallas calls itself “America’s Premier World War II Airshow,” according to a website promoting the event. The show was scheduled for November 11-13, Veterans Day weekend, and guests would see more than 40 World War II aircraft. The Saturday afternoon program included flying demonstrations, including a “bomber parade” and “fighter escorts” with the B-17 and P-63.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have begun investigations.
