Air Show Crash at CAF Dallas Air Show
There has been a tragic crash at the Commemorative Air Force Dallas Air Show. From videos it appears that a P-63 Kingcobra cut inside the show pattern and slammed into the CAF B-17, "Texas Raiders." Both were WWII era aircraft. The B-17 was making a low pass over the field at approximately 150 feet. The P-63 appears to have cut across from about eight o'clock high (port side, abaft the wing, going from high to low. The entire tail empennage of the B-17 separated, from the radio room (trailing edge of the wing) back. Both aircraft dropped to the ground immediately and the wings and forward fuselage of the B-17 burst into flame. There are no reports of survivors. The B-17 typically flew with a crew of four to five and the P-63 was a single-man fighter aircraft.
For those who remember, Milsurps moderator Harlan (deceased) was a member of the Commemorative Air Force. He flew with and photographed B-17 Texas Raiders. He was also the impetus for the creation of this sub-forum, by the way.
Let's keep the families of those involved in prayer, shall we?
Bob
Tragedy in the Commemorative Air Force
November 12th at an air show in Texas, a B-17 had it's tail sliced off by a P-63 King Cobra which nearly disintegrated afterwards. The B-17 flying only a few hundred feet up at the time immediately flipped and slammed into the ground. Five on the B-17 and the pilot of the P-63 are presumed dead. There are multiple videos of it happening and I would expect more will become available as time passes. These things are taped by hundreds of spectators on the ground.
Official word is minimal as they are waiting on the investigation to be concluded.
Criticism has already begun as it does every time one of these old warbirds is involved in a crash, but this was not equipment failure.
Both planes are total losses.
From the video, it almost looks deliberate but I won't speculate on that. The B-17 looked to be approaching for a photo pass and the fighter approached from the left and behind at a high rate of speed. At the shows I attend, the fighters and bombers are never "performing" at the same time so this was unusual. They are often in the air at the same time but never over the spectator area and not doing stunts when anything else is around.