Aero Vintage Books

Being reported now is that B-17G 44-83872, better known as “Texas Raiders” has been involved in a mid-air collision with a P-63 Kingcobra at an airshow at the Dallas Executive airport. The reports indicate the mid-air occurred at approximately 1:20 PM CST today, Saturday. Further details are unknown. It appears from the available photos that at least one of the aircraft crashed in a field, and debris is reported across a highway. Tragic news coming from Dallas this afternoon. We await further information.

The FAA reportedly just issued this:

A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in Texas around 1:20 p.m. local time Saturday. At this time, it is unknown how many people were on both aircraft.The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates.After investigators verify the aircraft registration numbers at the scene, the FAA will release them (usually on the next business day) on this webpage. You can look up the aircraft by their registration numbers on this webpage. Neither agency identifies people involved in aircraft accidents.

A video is now posted showing the P-63 appearing to hit the left side of the fuselage at the rear edge of the wing, with the aft fuselage separating. Both aircraft immediately crashed pretty much straight straight down. The B-17 appears to explode when it hits the ground. Very tragic for all involved and especially the families of the pilots and crew onboard.

What an awful tragedy. My condolences to all the friends and family of those involved.

So Sad.

Words fail me. Was Texas Raiders carrying passengers, or just the crew?

video

https://twitter.com/GianKaizen/status/1 ... 6247112704

Cleanest photos of the wreckage

https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/video/vinta ... ir-show/#x

This dramatic photo was posted on the AP this morning.

for those interested - the NTSB Preliminary Report can be download here https://t.co/X88rY61rfK

That looks like something from the war! Anyone know if there was any validity to a rumor of a drone in the area?

Bongo252 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 4:56 pm That looks like something from the war! Anyone know if there was any validity to a rumor of a drone in the area?

NTSB report is pretty clear - the Air Boss screwed-up big time -- he had the fighters cross the bomber stream to get to the inner line (500-foot mark) to pass in front of the crowd - the PB-1W was in the correct position (1,000-foot mark) and the P-63 crossed under trying to get into position.

I know the local drone community was a bit spooked. A tragic loss all around.

CBSTexas posted last year the Airboss audio.

What makes this video stand out is at the 1:30 mark is a very clear shot of the wing section post fire

https://youtu.be/uP5xzTjf7DQ?si=njnBNHGZLIf3OM6n&t=90