CNN
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A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed at an air show in Dallas around 1:20 p.m. Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Authorities responded to the incident at Dallas Executive Airport, Dallas Fire Rescue’s Jason Evans told CNN on Saturday.
According to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, the number of casualties from the crash was not yet confirmed until late Saturday afternoon.
More than 40 fire and rescue teams were at the scene after the crash, according to the agency’s active incidents page.
At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Memorial Air Force president and CEO Hank Coates told reporters that the B-17 “normally has a crew of four to five people. P-63 was a “single-engine fighter”, whereas that was what the airframe had.
“I would say it was usually manned,” Coates said. “Until they are released from the NTSB, we cannot release the numbers or names listed in the manifesto.”
Memorial Air Force confirmed that both aircraft were outside of Houston.
“As emergency responders are currently dealing with the incident, we do not have information on the crew’s status,” the group said in a statement, adding that it was cooperating with local authorities and the FAA.
The FAA is currently leading the investigation and will be handed over to the NTSB around 9 p.m. when the NTSB team arrives on the scene, Coates said.
“Their strategy [the aircraft] What we were doing wasn’t dynamic at all,” Coates said. “It was what we call ‘Bombers on Parade.'”
Johnson tweeted later Saturday that debris fields from the crash include the Dallas Executive Airport grounds, Highway 67, and a nearby strip mall, but spectators and others on the ground were reported to have been injured. not.
The event, which was due to run through Sunday, has been canceled, according to the organizer’s website.
Johnson said in a tweet after the crash“As many are now seeing, there was a terrible tragedy in our city during today’s air show. Many details remain unknown or unconfirmed at this time.”
“The video is heartbreaking. Please pray for the souls who took to the skies to entertain and educate our families today,” Johnson said in another tweet.
After the incident, the southbound and northbound lanes of the highway were closed, Dallas Police Department said.
“This is not about aircraft. It’s not,” Coates said at a press conference. “The aircraft are great aircraft and I can say they are safe. They are very well maintained. The pilots are very well trained. I know, so it’s hard to talk about it.”
According to Coates, those who fly the planes at CAF air shows are volunteers and undergo rigorous training. Many of them are airline pilots, retired airline pilots, or retired military pilots, Coates said.
The B-17 was part of the Memorial Air Force collection, nicknamed the “Texas Raiders”, and hung in Conroe, Texas near Houston. It was one of about 45 fully extant models, of which only 9 were airworthy.
The P-63 was even rarer. About 14 are known to exist, four of which were airworthy in the United States, one of which belonged to the Memorial Air Force.
Over 12,000 B-17s were built by Boeing, Douglas Aircraft and Lockheed between 1936 and 1945, nearly 5,000 were lost during the war, and most of the rest were scrapped by the early 1960s. . About 3,300 P-63s were built by Bell Aircraft between 1943 and 1945 and were used primarily by the Soviet Air Force in World War II.
This is a developing story.
