Watch: Historic Military Planes Crash Midair At Dallas Air Show

Two planes crashed in midair during an air show this afternoon in Dallas, the FAA says.

“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,” an FAA statement said. “At this time, it is unknown how many people were on both aircraft.”

It was unclear how many people were aboard the planes or whether there were injuries.

Dallas Executive Airport, which was hosting the event, said fire and rescue crews were responding. The FAA will assist an investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board, the statement said.

The B-17 was called the Texas Raiders, said Leah Block, spokesperson for Wings Over Dallas organizer Commemorative Air Force.

Videos, reportedly from the area, 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 tomorrow.

“We wondered if somebody had paid to be on that plane,” Brock said. “It’s sad because lives were likely lost and two [historic] planes were lost.”

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. We are all hoping for a miracle.”

He said it was “very windy.”

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson (D) called the crash a “terrible tragedy.”

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.”

(c) 2022, The Washington Post · Praveena Somasundaram, Andrea Salcedo