United States Disaster Claims All Eight Aboard B-52 on California Test Flight
A United States disaster claims all eight aboard a B-52 on California test flight after a US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed on takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California’s Mojave Desert on Monday, bursting into flames and killing all eight crew members aboard during a routine test mission. [1] [3]
Deadly B-52 Crash at Edwards Air Force Base
A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed on takeoff on Monday at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California’s Mojave Desert, bursting into flames and killing all eight crew members aboard, Air Force officials said. [1] The eight-engine, jet-powered aircraft, built to carry a wide array of nuclear and conventional bombs, was on a routine test mission when it crashed on the runway at Edwards just after leaving the ground, Air Force Colonel James Hayes said at a press conference hours later. [1] A towering pall of black smoke billowing from the crash site was visible for miles immediately after the accident. [1] Aerial video footage of the crash scene, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, showed a charred, smoldering patch of the desert floor larger than a football field as an emergency vehicle was seen driving along the site’s perimeter. [1] From a distance, there were no large pieces of debris readily visible in the footage. [1] Hayes said the crash was quickly “deemed to be unsurvivable”. [1] The heavy bomber was on a routine testing mission when it came down in a huge fireball at Edwards Air Force Base, 60 miles north of Los Angeles. [4] Footage of the aftermath of the crash, which officials said was “unsurvivable,” showed a large charred patch of ground on which almost nothing remained of the huge plane. [4] “Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans,” Colonel James Hayes told reporters at the base. [4] “It took off, and immediately after takeoff, crashed and burst into flames,” he said. [4]
Mixed Crew and Mission Details
He said the “mixed crew” aboard the aircraft consisted of government civilians, government contractors and uniformed military personnel. [1] Aerospace giant Boeing, which designed and built the plane, said two of its employees were among the dead. [1] The flight was intended to support a radar modernisation programme, Hayes told reporters. [1] The aircraft went down on Monday while supporting the base's radar modernisation programme, sending a large plume of black smoke into the sky. [2] Hayes said the B-52 Stratofortress was on a test sortie as part of a radar modernization process. [4] The plane is usually crewed by five people: an aircraft commander, a pilot, a radar navigator, a navigator and an electronic warfare officer, according to a US Air Force fact sheet on the plane. [4] The B-52 is a heavy bomber that first flew in 1954 and was originally designed for war with the Soviet Union. [4] It has received continual upgrades to keep it in service for decades since the Cold War's end. [4] The massive bomber has a wingspan of 185 feet and a length of 159 feet. [4]
Response and Base Impact
Because of damage to the runway, officials are grounding all operations at Edwards Air Force Base through at least Tuesday, adding that no operations beyond the base would be suspended. [1] Emergency teams extinguished the fire and secured the area, while officials confirmed there were no injuries on the ground and that the crash was contained within the base. [2] “After reviewing the footage of the crash, it was deemed that this was an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable.” [4] In the aftermath of the accident, the airfield was closed and all inbound aircraft were being diverted, the base said on social media. [4] The crash happened around lunchtime at the base, a major operations center for the US military, and was contained within the perimeter, Hayes told reporters. [4] Air Force officials did not name the victims, saying they were still in the process of notifying their next of kin. [1] Hayes said the identities of those who perished would not be released until all next of kin had been informed, a process he said was ongoing and could last for the rest of the day. [4]
B-52 Stratofortress Role and History
The B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range, subsonic aircraft built to carry up to 70,000 pounds of weapons and supplies, has long served as the backbone of the US crewed strategic bomber force, according to the military. [1] The swept-wing aircraft is capable of unleashing the widest range of weapons in the US inventory, from cluster bombs and gravity bombs to precision-guided missiles and nuclear warheads, at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet, according to an Air Force fact sheet. [1] Its combat range extends more than 8,000 miles without refueling. [1] The B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range bomber used by the US military since the 1950s. [4] The massive bomber can carry a range of weapons, including bombs and cruise missiles. [4] With a combat range of up to 8,800 miles, the plane is capable of carrying a nuclear payload. [4] The United States has deployed the aircraft in conflicts in Vietnam, the Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently in Iran. [4] Only H models of the B-52 remain in the Air Force inventory. [1] The aircraft involved in Monday’s crash was assigned to the 412th Test Wing, which is based at Edwards. [1] Most B-52s are stationed in North Dakota and Louisiana. [1]
Edwards Air Force Base Legacy
Edwards, a sprawling test flight facility established in the 1930s around a dry lake bed, occupies about 481 square miles of the Mojave desert, making it the Air Force’s largest airfield. [1] Its experimental aviation legacy includes the flight by Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1 aircraft that broke the sound barrier in 1947, test flights of the X-15 aircraft and the first landings of NASA’s space shuttles. [1] The base is a major operations center for the US military. [4]
Investigation and Prior Incidents
The cause of the crash was unknown and under investigation. [1] There was no immediate indication as to the cause of the tragedy, and a safety investigation probe was immediately begun. [4] Monday’s incident marked the first crash of a B-52 Stratofortress since the same type of bomber crashed on the island of Guam in May 2016, according to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives, a Geneva-based organisation that collects global aviation accident data. [1] All seven crew members aboard that aircraft survived. [1] Air Force officials did not name the victims, saying they were still in the process of notifying their next of kin. [3]
What to watch next: The safety investigation into the cause remains ongoing with no operations beyond Edwards suspended, while the B-52 continues as the backbone of the US strategic bomber force with only H models now in inventory.
