Silke Jasso
Tragedy struck in Dallas after six people were killed as two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground. This occurred Saturday afternoon during a Dallas air show, according to police. “According to our Dallas County Medical Examiner, there are a total of 6 fatalities from yesterday’s Wings over Dallas airshow incident,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted Sunday. He went on to say that authorities are continuing to figure out the identities of the victims.
Videos by Rare
The Allied Pilots Association, who are the American Airlines pilots union, broke their silence on Twitter saying that two other former members, Len Root and Terry Barker, were on board the B-17. Both members tragically died. The crash occurred at 1:20 p.m. Saturday afternoon when the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow. Usually, the event is held at the Dallas Executive Airport.
6 Feared Dead As 2 World War Two-Era Planes Collide Mid-Air
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there were no other injuries on the ground. But Dallas mayor Eric Johnson stated that the Collision to Breezefield included several parts of the Executive Airport grounds, a nearby strip mall, and Highway 67.
Normally, B-17 would have a crew of either four or five members and the King Cobra would just have one pilot. This according to CEO and president of commemorative Air Force Hank Coates. He noted that no information about fatalities can’t be made public at this time since the families need to be notified first due to federal investigations taking place.
But the planes were part of the nonprofit organization Fleet of 180 Aircraft which is used in its own air show to demonstrate how the WWII planes were used at that time. “This was a World War II flight-demonstration type of air show,” Coates said. “It’s very patriotic.”
