A bomber and a fighter plane of the 1940s collided during a meeting celebrating on November 11, the day of veterans in the United States. The authorities have not given any assessment for the moment.
Le Monde with AFP
Two planes dating from the Second World War struck each other and hit the ground on Saturday, November 12, during an air show in Dallas (Texas).
“At this stage we do not know how many people were on board,” said in a statement, shortly after the crash, the American aviation regulator (FAA) which opened an investigation. The firefighters were dispatched on the spot but no other information was communicated on a possible assessment.
Hank Coates, president of the company that organized the air show, said one of the planes, a B-17 bomber Flying Fortress, generally had a crew of four to five people. The other, a p-63 Kingcobra fighter plane has a single pilot. No paying customer was on the plane, said Coates, the Commemorative Air Force, who also owned planes. Their planes are piloted by highly qualified volunteers, often retired pilots, he explained.
no injuries on the ground
On several videos published on social networks, the fighter plane seems to hit the bomber, having him crash quickly to the ground and triggering a large ball of fire and black smoke. The mayor of Dallas Eric Johnson said on Twitter that “no spectator or person on the ground was injured”.
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Dallas Executive Airport, located about ten kilometers south of the Texan metropolis, spoke on Twitter an “incident” in a show of military aircraft from the 1940s, organized within the framework of the long holiday weekend of November 11, a day dedicated to war veterans.
The B-17, the cornerstone of American air power during the Second World War, is a huge quadricate bomber used in day raids against Germany. The Kingcobra, an American fighter plane, was mainly used by Soviet forces during the war. Most of the B-17s were put back to the end of the conflict and there is only one handful today, largely presented in museums and air shows, according to Boeing.
The last day of the canceled lounge
The show called “Wings over Dallas” presents itself as “the first American aeronautical fair for the Second World War”. The show was scheduled for November 11 to 13, the weekend of the Veterans Day, and the guests had to see more than forty planes of the Second World War.
The demonstration program on Saturday afternoon included the “Bombardi parade” and the “escorts of hunters” who featured the B-17 and P-63. Videos of previous events from “Wings over Dallas” show low -flying vintage war aircraft, sometimes in close formation, during machine guns or simulated bombing. The videos also show planes making air acrobatics.
the website of the event said that festivities scheduled for Sunday were canceled due to the accident.