Two World War II-era airplanes on Saturday collided at an air show in Dallas, Texas, US authorities said, with social media footage showing the aircraft crashing into each other and hitting the ground with a fiery explosion.
It was not immediately clear how many people were in the two craft, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a smaller Bell P-63 Kingcobra, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
Nor was it clear whether anyone survived the early afternoon crash, which occurred during the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport.
Photo: AP
While the number of casualties was not immediately known, “no spectators or others on the ground were reported injured,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson wrote on Twitter.
Multiple videos posted on social media showed dramatic scenes of the smaller plane descending toward the lower-flying B-17, crashing into it. After the collision, the planes appeared to break up into several large pieces before crashing into the ground and exploding in a ball of fire, creating a huge plume of black smoke.
The crash scattered debris across the airport grounds as well as on a nearby highway and strip mall, Johnson said.
The FAA said its agents and the US National Transportation Safety Board would investigate the incident.
“As many of you have now seen, we have had a terrible tragedy in our city today during an airshow. Many details remain unknown or unconfirmed at this time,” Johnson said.
The B-17, a four-engine bomber, played a major role in winning the air war against Germany in World War II. With a workhorse reputation, it became one of the most produced bombers ever.
The P-63 Kingcobra was a fighter aircraft developed during the same war by Bell Aircraft, but it was used in combat only by the Soviet Air Forces.
RALLYING CRY: Former US president Donald Trump has raised suspicions about why Chinese migrants are going to the US and advocacy groups worry about his rhetoric The US Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said that it sent 116 Chinese migrants from the US back home in the first “large charter flight” in five years. The flight, which happened over the weekend, comes as Chinese immigration has become the subject of intense political debate in the upcoming US presidential election. “We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. The department said it was working with China to “reduce and deter irregular migration and to disrupt
SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE: The Philippines prefers to handle operations on its own, and would exhaust all possible options before asking for help, the military chief said The Philippines has turned down offers from the US to assist operations in the South China Sea, after a flare-up with China over missions to resupply Filipino troops on a contested shoal, its military chief said. Tensions in the disputed waterway have boiled over into violence in the past year, with a Filipino sailor losing a finger in the latest June 17 clash that Manila described as “intentional high-speed ramming” by the Chinese coast guard. The US, a treaty ally, has offered support, but Manila prefers to handle operations on its own, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief General Romeo Brawner told
Georgian student Elene Deisadze was browsing TikTok in 2022 when she stumbled across the profile of a girl, Anna Panchulidze, who looked exactly like her. Months later, after chatting and becoming friends, they both separately learned they were adopted, and last year decided to take a DNA test. It revealed they were not only related, but identical twins. “I had a happy childhood, but now my entire past felt like a deception,” said Anna, an English student at university. Far from an innocent case of separation at birth, the sisters are among tens of thousands of Georgian children who were
Prominent activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) yesterday asked for a lesser sentence in court after he earlier pleaded guilty in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case. Wong was one of 47 activists charged in 2021 under a Beijing-imposed National Security Law with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary. The activists were accused of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the territory’s leader by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block budgets indiscriminately. Wong and 44 others admitted their liability or were convicted by the court. They could be sentenced to life in