Fatal Collision At Wings Over Dallas airshow Saturday afternoon

Written by Melissa Koenig on November 16, 2022. Posted in Current News

Six airmen died during the Veterans Day ‘Wings over Dallas’ show when a B-17 collided in midair with Bell P-63 Kingcobra, as spectators watched in horror

The dead were named as Captain Terry Barker, Captain Len Root, Major Curtis Rowe, Kevin Michels and Dan Ragan have been named as the five crew members on the B-17 while Craig Hutain was on the P-63 Kingcobra aircraft.

Both Root and Barker were were pilots for American Airlines.

The P-63 was being flown by Craig Hutain who also died as his plane smashed into the bomber aircraft. Hutain worked as a Captain for United Airlines.

The shocking accident was witnessed by hundred of people on the ground and captured in sickening detail as airshow spectators and photographers captured the event on their cellphones and professional cameras.

David Sentendrey tweeted: ‘The @cityofkellertx confirms its former council member — Terry Barker — is one of the pilots who was killed during the crash, Saturday. Barker was a husband, father, Army veteran and more. Terry Barker was beloved by so many.’

‘According to our Dallas County Medical Examiner, there are a total of 6 fatalities from yesterday’s Wings over Dallas air show incident,’ Chief Elected Official of Dallas County, Clay Jenkins, tweeted as he confirmed the six deaths.

The B-17 bomber appeared to stray into the blindspot of a P-63 Kingcobra as the historic World War II-era planes collided at about 1:30pm on Saturday.

Video posted online shows a P-63 Kingcobra approaching the flight path of a Boeing B17 Flying Fortress bomber.

The bomber appears to fly by the P-63’s blindspot and the planes collide, ripping the tail off the bomber, sending both aircraft plummeting to the ground.

A second video from a different angle shows how the B-17 approach the blindspot of the Kingcobra as it was banking left.

The front of the B-17 broke apart from the tail. The wings caught on fire and it spiraled to the ground nearby.

The incident involving the rare World War II-era planes hearkens back to the deadly 2019 crash where a B-17 performing a ‘heritage flight’ tour slammed into a Connecticut airport that left seven dead.

The Flying Fortress is like a ‘tractor-trailer truck,’ big enough to carry a crew of 10 or 11 people, while the Kingcobra is a single-pilot fighter plane.

Around 40 Fire-Rescue crews immediately responded to the scene.

Responding to the crash, the Allied Pilots Association tweeted: ‘We are saddened to report that former APA members CA Terry Barker and CA Len Root were among the crew members lost on B-17 Flying Fortress during the Wings Over Dallas airshow today. Our hearts go out to their families, friends, and colleagues past and present.’

Both men were members of the B-17 crew, operating and maintaining the historic Texas Raiders aircraft, one of only five B-17s cleared for flying.

Root, of Roanoke, Texas, was a married man with three adult daughters. Barker, of Keller, Texas, was also married.

Hank Coates, president and CEO of the Commemorative Air Force, which hosted the air show, would not comment on the casualties, but told reporters on Saturday afternoon that the B-17 involved ‘normally has a crew of four to five,’ while the P-63 is a ‘single-piloted fighter type aircraft.’

During the news conference, Coates refused to lay any blame for the accident, but noted that the aircrafts were not at fault.

‘This is not about the aircraft. It’s just not,’ Coates said. ‘I can tell you the aircraft are great aircraft, they’re safe. They’re very well-maintained. The pilots are very well-trained. So it’s difficult for me to talk about it, because I know all these people, these are family, and they’re good friends.’

Several videos posted on social media showed the fighter plane appearing to fly into the bomber, causing them to quickly crash to the ground and setting off a large ball of fire and smoke.

‘It was really horrific to see,’ Aubrey Anne Young, 37, of Leander. Texas, who saw the crash. Her children were inside the hangar with their father when it occurred. ‘I´m still trying to make sense of it.’

A woman next to Young can be heard crying and screaming hysterically on a video that Young uploaded to her Facebook page.

Those on social media were also quick to point out that the B-17 had approached the smaller plane from its blindspot, which resulted in the crash.

One Twitter user wrote: ‘The P-63 definitely had the B-17 in its blindspot via the control panels. Neither plane could have saw each other in time and the face it was a direct hit just makes it worse.’

Another user with the handle Omphile, agreed, tweeting: ‘Yeses, he never saw it coming. That B-17 fell straight into a big blindspot.’

HW Helser, another Twitter user, echoed the claims. He tweeted: It appears a P63 Kingcobra crashed in to a B-17 while banking left. The B-17 was probably in the P63’s blindspot and didn’t see the B-17 ahead. God bless the families of lost air crew members.’

The consensus appeared to be widespread as Jake Hagen, another Twitter user, wrote: ‘P-63 couldn’t see below his nose or below his wings and he failed to check his blindspot before going into a banking turn to the left with the b-17 coming from the right crossing paths. p-63 pilot would not have seen him but it is his fault.’

Victoria Yeager, the widow of famed Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager and herself a pilot, was also at the show. She didn’t see the collision, but did see the burning wreckage.

‘It was pulverized,’ said Yeager, 64, who lives in Fort Worth. ‘We were just hoping they had all gotten out, but we knew they didn’t,’ she said of those on board.

Witnesses say debris was strewn over Highway 67 in Texas, where Fire Rescue authorities said an active fire has broken out. The highway was closed off and traffic was being diverted.

Footage from the aftermath showed smoke billowing above tents at the Dallas festival. Sources say the event was part of the Commemorative Air Force’s show for the Veterans Day weekend.

Wings Over Dallas is an annual airshow hosted by Commemorative Air Force, an organization dedicated to preserving World War II-era aircraft.

Saturday was scheduled to be the second-day of the three-day show, but Friday’s events were canceled due to inclement weather.

The schedule for Saturday’s event included a parade of bomber planes, like the B17, followed by fighter escorts, like the P-63.

Videos of previous Wings Over Dallas events depict vintage warplanes flying low, sometimes in close formation, on simulated strafing or bombing runs. The videos also show the planes performing aerobatic stunts.

The CAF was founded as a nonprofit in 1961 and the weekend show was part of its Air Power History Tour, advertised as a national tour of World War II-era planes.

The group advertises that all of its shows include at least one extremely rare plane like a Boeing B-29 Superfortrss or a B-24 Liberator.

Air show safety – particularly with older military aircraft – has been a concern for years.

In 2011, 11 people were killed in Reno, Nevada, when a P-51 Mustang crashed into spectators. In 2019, a bomber crashed in Hartford, Connecticut, killing seven people.

The NTSB said then that it had investigated 21 accidents since 1982 involving World War II-era bombers, resulting in 23 deaths.

See more here dailymail.co.uk

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