B-52 bomber with eight aboard crashes at California's Edwards Air Force Base; Air Force fears no survivors
Photos taken at the scene and shared on social media showed a column of black smoke rising over the Mojave Desert, near the charred wreckage of the bomber.
File photo of a U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber
All eight crew members aboard a U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress are believed to have died Monday after the bomber crashed moments after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, California, during a routine test mission.
In an official statement, the base's 412th Test Wing Office of Public Affairs said "initial indications are that the crash was not survivable," adding that officials were still working to account for all personnel. The aircraft went down around 11:20 a.m. Pacific time, and the airfield remains closed, with emergency crews deployed at the site. The B-52 typically operates with a crew of five, but the aircraft that crashed was carrying eight people.
In a previous post, the base reported that the airfield had been closed and that all incoming aircraft were being diverted.
"All non-commercial visitor passes have been suspended until further notice to allow the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations," they reported.
Photos taken at the scene and shared on social media showed a column of black smoke rising over the Mojave Desert, near the charred wreckage.
Republican Representative Vince Fong, whose district encompasses the region, reacted on ‘X’ with a call to prayer: "Please join me in praying for the B-52 crew at Edwards Air Force Base and the entire Edwards community."
Edwards is the Air Force’s primary flight test center, and the B-52s stationed there are typically used for development and modernization testing rather than routine operational missions. The crashed aircraft was one of 76 still in service of this model, a nuclear-capable bomber that entered service in the 1950s and remains a centerpiece of the country’s strategic bomber force.
The accident comes as the Air Force is implementing an ambitious modernization plan to keep the B-52 flying through the 2050s, which includes new Rolls-Royce F130 engines, updated avionics, and a state-of-the-art AN/APQ-188 radar. In January, the service awarded Boeing a contract worth approximately $2 billion to modify and test two B-52s equipped with the new engines. According to Fox News, authorities did not clarify whether the crashed aircraft was participating in such tests.
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