US Air Force B-52 bomber crashes on takeoff in California, Air Force says

LOS ANGELES, June 15 (Reuters) – A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber, designed to carry nuclear and conventional ​weapons, crashed on Monday shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California’s ‌Mojave Desert, the base said.

Aerial video footage of the crash scene, about 100 miles (161 km) north of Los Angeles, showed a charred, smoldering patch of the desert floor roughly the size of a football field as an emergency vehicle was ​seen driving along the perimeter of the site.

There were no large pieces of debris readily visible ​in the footage.

“Emergency crews immediately responded to the scene and the situation is ongoing,” ⁠the base wrote in a post on X.

The eight-engine jet bomber crashed “shortly after takeoff on the Edwards ​airfield at 11:20 a.m.,” the base said in its official alert on X.

There was no immediate word on the ​number of crew members aboard the plane, whether anyone survived, or what their mission was at the time. The plane typically carries a crew of about five.

The Stratofortress, designed and built by Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab, is a long-range, subsonic aircraft that has long ​served as the backbone of the United States’ crewed strategic bomber force, according to the U.S. military.

The ​swept-wing aircraft is capable of carrying nuclear and precision-guided conventional munitions, including cluster bombs and gravity bombs, at altitudes of ‌up ⁠to 50,000 feet (15,166 meters), according to an Air Force fact sheet.

In a conventional conflict, the B-52 can perform strategic attack, close-air support, air interdiction, offensive counter-air and maritime operations, the fact sheet said.

Monday’s incident marked the first crash of a B-52 Stratofortress since the same type of bomber crashed on the island of Guam ​in May 2016, according ​to the Bureau of ⁠Aircraft Accidents Archive, a Geneva-based organization that collects global aviation accident data. All seven crew members aboard that aircraft survived.

The Air Force and Pentagon initially declined to ​comment on Monday’s crash beyond what the base reported online. Base officials could ​not immediately ⁠be reached for additional comment.

Only the H model of the B-52 remains in the Air Force inventory, and is assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and the 2nd Bomb ⁠Wing at ​Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana – both under the Air Force ​Global Strike Command – and to the Reserve Command’s 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale, according to the military.