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Six people are feared dead after a historic World War II-era B-17 Flying Fortress slammed into a P-63 Kingcobra plane in midair outside of Dallas, Texas yesterday.
The two World War II-era planes collided in mid-air at the Wings Over Dallas event, sending debris flying and igniting a fire nearby.
Jason Evans, a Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman, told the Dallas Morning News that the crash occurred at around 1.30pm above the Dallas Executive Airport.
Video posted online shows a Boeing B17 Flying Fortress bomber approaching the flight path of a Bell P-63 Kingcobra. The bomber appears to fly by the P-63’s blindspot and the planes collide, ripping each other to shreds.
The front of the B17 split off from its rears as its wings caught on fire and it spiraled to the ground nearby.
See video:
One man who was at the air show said the P-63 was banking left at the time and had the B17 in his blind spot so he could not prepare for the impending crash.
The Flying Fortress is like a “tractor-trailer truck,” big enough to carry a crew of 10 or 11 people, while the Kingcobra is a single-pilot fighter plane.
Around 40 Fire-Rescue crews immediately responded to the scene, according to CNN.
Witnesses say debris is now strewn over Highway 67 in Texas, where Fire Rescue authorities say an active fire has broken out. The highway is now closed off and traffic is being diverted.
Dallas Fire-Rescue authorities do not yet know the status of either pilot or whether there were any injuries from fallen debris.
But ABC News producer Jeffrey Cook said six people, all crew members, are feared to be dead.
The incident involving the rare World War II-era planes hearkens back to the deadly 2019 crash where a B-17 performing a “heritage flight” tour slammed into a Connecticut airport that left seven dead.
Footage from the aftermath showed smoke billowing above tents at the Dallas festival. Sources say the event was part of the Commemorative Air Force’s show for the Veterans Day weekend.
The bomber was apparently being flown by a member of the Gulf Coast Wings Texas Raiders.
In a statement following the crash, Mayor Eric Johnson called the crash a “terrible tragedy in our city.”
“The videos are heartbreaking,” he wrote on Twitter. “Please say a prayer for the souls who took to the sky to entertain and educate our families today.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
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