At Dallas Air Show, Vintage Military Planes Clash In Midair: Around 1:20 pm, a Bell P-63 Kingcobra and a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress collided and crashed at the Wings Over Dallas airshow. according to the Federal Aviation Administration, on Saturday. According to Jason Evans with Dallas Fire-Rescue, authorities responded to the incident at Dallas Executive Airport on Saturday.
Later on Saturday afternoon, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson stated that the precise number of fatalities in the collision was still unknown. Two retired pilots who were previous union members were among those killed in the incident, according to the Allied Pilots Association, the labour union for American Airlines pilots.
According to a tweet from the APA, former members Terry Barker and Len Root were on the B-17 Flying Fortress crew during the Wings Over Dallas airshow. Following the event, the APA is also providing expert counselling services at their Fort Worth offices.
Their tweet added, “Our hearts go out to their families, friends, and coworkers past and present.” The agency’s active incidents website indicates that after the crash, there were over 40 fire rescue units on the scene. Hank Coates, president and chief executive officer of the Commemorative Air Force, said the B-17 “often has a crew of four to five” at a Saturday afternoon press conference.
The P-63 is a “single-piloted fighter type aircraft,” although that is what was on the aircraft. Coates stated, “I can assure you that it was crewed normally. “Until the NTSB gives me permission to do so, I cannot divulge the number of persons in the manifest or the names on the manifest.”
Both aircraft were identified by the Commemorative Air Force as coming from Houston. In a statement, the organisation said, “At this time, we do not have information on the status of the flight crews as emergency responders are working the accident.”
It added that it is collaborating with regional authorities and the FAA. The inquiry is now being led by the FAA and will soon be handed over to the NTSB at around 9 p.m. when the NTSB crew gets there, according to Coates.
The NTSB said on Saturday night that a go-team would be formed to look into the crash. The NTSB tweeted that Sunday is when the team is anticipated to arrive. The message said, “Member Michael Graham will act as spokesperson on scene.
Coates observed that the maneuvers the planes were performing were by no means dynamic. We refer to it as “Bombers on Parade.” Despite the Dallas Executive Airport grounds, Highway 67, and a local strip mall being included in the collision’s debris field, Johnson tweeted later on Saturday that no witnesses or on-the-ground casualties had been recorded.
A pair of vintage military aircraft collided at a Texas air show, killing at least 2 onboard. Here are the latest developments. https://t.co/FznuaiEdyO
— CNN International (@cnni) November 13, 2022
According to the organizer’s website, the event has been postponed from today until Sunday. “As many of you have now seen, we have suffered a tragedy in our city today at an airshow,” Johnson wrote in a tweet in response to the accident.
Many specifics are now unknown or uncertain. “The videos are painful to see. Please offer a prayer for the spirits of those who flew to the skies today to amuse and instruct our families, Johnson said in a different tweet. Following the incident, the highway’s southbound and northbound lanes were closed, according to the Dallas Police Department.
“The aircraft is not the topic here. During the press conference, Coates stated that it simply is not. “I can assure you that the planes are excellent and secure. They have excellent upkeep. The pilots get excellent training.
Because I know all of these people and consider them to be family and close friends, it is tough for me to discuss them. Coates asserts that the pilots participating in CAF airshows are volunteers who undergo a rigorous training program. According to Coates, many of them are current or former commercial or military pilots.
Destroyed Rare Vintage Aircraft
The B-17 had been stored in Conroe, Texas, a suburb of Houston, and was a part of the Commemorative Air Force’s “Texas Raiders” collection. Only nine of the model’s approximately 45 complete surviving specimens were flight-ready.
Even rare was the P-63. There are thought to be 14 specimens still existing, four of which were airworthy in the United States, including one that belonged to the Commemorative Air Force. Between 1936 and 1945, Boeing, Douglas Aircraft, and Lockheed constructed more than 12,000 B-17s, of which almost 5,000 were lost in battle and the majority were scrapped by the early 1960s.
Between 1943 and 1945, Bell Aircraft produced over 3,300 P-63s, which saw primarily service with the Soviet Air Force during World War II.
Final Lines
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