8 crew members believed dead after B-52 bomber crashes at California’s Edwards Air Force Base
By Taylor Romine, Davis Winkie, CNN
(CNN) — Eight crew members are believed to be dead in a B-52 bomber crash shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base, northeast of Los Angeles, on Monday morning, the base said.
The B-52 Stratofortress was on a routine test mission that took off at 11:20 a.m. local time at the remote air base, officials said, and “initial indications are that the crash was not survivable.”
Emergency crews responded immediately to the crash involving the bomber — which left a towering black plume in its wake — and are still working as officials try “to account for all personnel,” the base said.
A press conference is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. local time, according to the base.
The base’s runway was left with a large blackened scar on the sandy runway, as well as some residual smoke, but it was difficult to make out any distinct parts of the wreckage, video from CNN affiliate KCAL shows.
As emergency crews focus on responding, the airfield is closed and inbound aircraft are being diverted, and all non-commercial visitor passes are suspended until further notice, the base said.
The B-52 is one of the Air Force’s oldest aircraft, first entering service in 1955. The long-range heavy bomber, which typically carries a crew of five, can carry as much as 70,000 pounds of bombs and other munitions.
The currently flown version, the B-52H, still plays a major role in the Air Force’s arsenal, which includes 76 of the aircraft. It was used in bombing missions during the current conflict between the US and Iran. The B-52H can also carry nuclear bombs and nuclear-armed cruise missiles.
Before Monday’s crash, the most recent fatal accident involving the aircraft was in 2008, when six Air Force personnel were killed after their B-52 crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Guam while preparing for a parade flyover.
The Boeing-made bomber has not been in production since 1962, though several life-extension initiatives have modernized the airframe and kept it flying. The Air Force recently launched another B-52 upgrade initiative centered around designing new engines with a total expected price tag of $48.6 billion, according to Defense News.
Because the aircraft is no longer in production, any replacements must be sourced from dismantled airframes stored at the so-called “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, as was done after a non-fatal 2016 crash that destroyed a B-52H in Guam.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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