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It was unclear how many people were aboard the two planes, and the FAA will assist the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the crash, the organization’s statement said.
Both planes were “normally crewed,” but the exact number and names of the pilots were not released Saturday evening, said Hank Coates, the CEO and president of Wings Over Dallas organizer Commemorative Air Force (CAF). He said a B-17 aircraft usually has four or five crew members, and the P-63 is a single-pilot plane. There were no paying customers aboard during the collision.
Billed as the largest air show in North Texas, Wings Over Dallas was scheduled for Veterans Day Weekend to give attendees a deeper look at World War II history through reenactments and flight demonstrations.
The pilots in the air show were volunteers who completed a strict training process, Coates added. Many air show volunteer pilots have a background in airline or military piloting, he said.
“These are very well-trained folks that have been doing it for a long time,” Coates said, adding that the incident was “extremely rare.”
CAF will not release information on the pilots until all officials involved in the investigation have agreed to do so and next of kin are notified, Coates said. No air show spectators or others on the ground were injured by the crash, said Jason Evans, spokesperson for Dallas Fire-Rescue.
The B-17 was called the Texas Raiders, said CAF spokesperson Leah Block. The aircraft was the First World War II-era Flying Fortress acquired for restoration and use as a flying museum, according to the CAF.
Videos showed one plane strike another midair with people on the ground gasping.
Anthony Montoya, 27, was at the Wings Over Dallas event with a friend when at about 1:45 p.m. a P-63 fighter plane clipped the back end of a B-17 bomber, breaking its back in half, he said. The front half of the B-17 nosedived into the ground, followed by the other aircraft.
“They hit the ground and burst into flames,” Montoya, who sat about 500 yards from the crash, told The Washington Post. “People were in shock. There were people crying, holding each other, visibly upset.”
Kris Truskey, 43, who was near the main terminal of the airport with her husband and son, said in a message to The Post that she saw the tail of the B-17 “get sliced off” before the nosedive and a “fireball.”
The crowd took a beat before realizing it wasn’t part of the show, said Mollie Brock, 25.
“We all saw it, but it took a second for everyone to think it was a crash.”
She and her husband sat about 100 feet from the runway during the show. A group of the P-63 planes had been escorting the B-17, she said, while fireworks simulating bombs blasted.
Brock told The Post that earlier that day, a woman working for the show had been advertising a chance to fly in the B-17 if they were willing to pay for the experience. Saturday’s seats were all booked, Brock recalled the woman saying, but there were still available seats for Sunday.
Paramedics rushed to the scene, Montoya and Truskey said, and about half an hour later the crowd was asked to leave the venue and the rest of the event was canceled.
“I just hope everybody involved is okay, and I pray for their family and their loved ones,” Montoya said. “We are all hoping for a miracle.”
He said it was “very windy.”
Debris from the collision and crash littered the Dallas Executive Airport, Highway 67 and a strip mall, Evans said. The airport will remain closed during the investigation.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson (D) called the crash a “terrible tragedy.”
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. The @NTSB has taken command of the crash scene with @DallasPD and @DallasFireRes_q continuing to provide support.
— Mayor Eric Johnson (@Johnson4Dallas) November 12, 2022
Other World War II and vintage planes have had deadly crashes over the years. In 2019, a B-17 Flying Fortress crashed at an airport in Connecticut, killing seven of the 13 people aboard. The plane had been brought to the Hartford-area Bradley International Airport with other vintage planes for a show.
In 2016, thousands of people saw a Trojan T-28 plane crash during an air show in Alberta, Canada, killing its pilot, according to Global News.
The Texas Raiders was one of five flying B-17s, the CAF said.
In their World War II heyday, according to Boeing, B-17 bombers could accommodate two pilots and eight crew members. About 12,000 were made, and “only a few B-17s survive today, featured at museums and air shows; most were scrapped at the end of the war.”
This was the seventh Wings Over Dallas, Coates said, and it aimed to highlight World War II aircraft and their capabilities.
The show is “well-received” Coates said, and the CAF focuses its outreach in particularly on children and veterans who attend their events to see the vintage aircraft.
Lori Aratani and Michael Laris contributed to this report.
