Two World War II planes collide mid-air during US airshow in Texas, 6 feared dead

By Gargi Chaudhry | First Published Nov 13, 2022, 8:31 AM IST

A historic World War II heavy bomber and a fighter jet collided in midair during a Dallas air show, killing six people, including flying crew members. Airport officials posted on Twitter that emergency personnel were responding to the collision. The event is billed as the top World War Two airshow in the country.

Two World War II-era planes collided midair at a Second World War commemorative airshow in Texas’ Dallas, killing at least six people on Saturday. Six people, all crew members, are feared dead in the collision, reports said. The planes - one of them a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress - were taking part in a commemorative air show near Dallas.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced in a statement that a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter collided and crashed during the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport around 1:20 p.m. CST (1820 GMT).

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Airport officials posted on Twitter that emergency personnel were responding to the collision. The event is touted as the top World War Two airshow in the country.

Air collision involving a B-17 bomber and smaller plane at Dallas airshow pic.twitter.com/P8YSa9fkcY

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On social media, images of the collision were widely shared along with people's condolences for the tragedy. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have launched investigations, with the latter taking the lead and providing updates, officials said.

One of the planes crashed in a field, the other in a stand of trees, near Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, Colorado, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Denver. Two people were found dead in one wreckage, and one person in the other, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said.

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Veterans Day, which occurred on Friday, was the occasion of the three-day celebration, which drew between 4,000 and 6,000 thousand spectators. During World War II, the B-17 bomber was crucial to the victory of the air campaign against Germany. The second aircraft was a P-63 Kingcobra, a fighter deployed in the same conflict but exclusively by the Soviet Air Force.

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