In the US, two historic World War II planes have crashed midair in a horrifying incident at an air show in Dallas.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson called the incident at Dallas Executive Airport a 'tragedy', adding that nobody on the ground were reported injured.
Authorities say that a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed during the Commemorative Air Force Wings.
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The fighter plane and the heavy bomber collided at around 1:20pm local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Leah Block, a spokesperson for Commemorative Air Force, told ABC News: "Currently we do not have information on the status of the flight crews as emergency responders are working the accident."
ABC also reported that the spokesperson believes there were five crew members on the B-17 and one aboard the P-63, both with no passengers.
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However, it has now been confirmed that six crew members had been killed in the collision.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted today (13 November): “According to our Dallas County Medical Examiner, there are a total of 6 fatalities from yesterday’s Wings over Dallas air show incident.”
The CAF President Hank Coates had previously stated that he could not confirm any casualties but said that the B-17 would usually fly with four to five passengers and the P-63 is a single seater.
He said: "Obviously this is a very challenging time for the families. And when I say family, I also mean the CAF family and our customers that follow us all over the world and enjoy our shows.
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"This was a World War II flight demonstration-type airshow where we highlight the aircraft and their capabilities and what actually happened in WWII. It’s very patriotic. The maneuvers that they were going through were not dynamic at all. It was what we call bombers on parade."
The disturbing incident was recorded by many at the airshow, and footage of the incident has been circulating on social media.
One eyewitness, Chris Kratovil, spoke to the BBC, saying that he had 'never seen a crowd grow more quiet or more still in just a blink of an eye'.
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Kratovil added: "It went from being a fairly excited, energetic crowd... to complete silence and stillness, and a lot of people, including myself, turned their children towards them and away from the airfield because there was burning wreckage in the middle of the airfield."
Alongside The Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board have also said they will be launching an investigation into the crash.
Taking to Twitter, they said: "The NTSB is launching a go-team to investigate Saturday’s mid-air collision between a Boeing B-17G and a Bell P-63F near Dallas, Texas. Member Michael Graham will serve as spokesperson on scene. Team expected to arrive tomorrow."
Topics: US News
Callum Jones