US: 2 vintage aircraft collide at Dallas air show

Two World War II-era airplanes collided Saturday at an airshow in Dallas, US aviation authorities said.

The crash happened at Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city's downtown, during the Wings Over Dallas Airshow to mark the Veterans Day weekend.

Videos posted to social media showed a Bell P-63 Kingcobra descending into a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as both planes appeared to veer to the left.

Six people onboard the planes

An airshow official said there were five crew members on the B-17 bomber and one aboard the P-63 fighter plane.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone survived the crash or whether there were casualties on the ground.

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 and a huge plume of black smoke.

Witnesses describe being stunned

"I just stood there. I was in complete shock and disbelief," eyewitness Anthony Montoya said. "Everybody around was gasping. Everybody was bursting into tears. Everybody was in shock."

Aubrey Anne Young, 37, of Leander. Texas, said the crash was "really horrific to see," adding that she was still "trying to make sense of it."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said its agents and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) would investigate the incident.

The B-17, an immense four-engine bomber, was a cornerstone of US air power during World War II.

The Kingcobra, a US fighter plane, was used mostly by Soviet forces during the war.

Most B-17s were scrapped at the end of the conflict and only a handful remain in use today, mostly at museums and air shows.

Crash reignites concerns over air show safety

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.

mm/wd (AFP, AP)