B52 Bomber Crash at Edwards ​Air ​Force: All crew members dead after Boeing Stratofortress crashed following take-off in California, all about supersonic aircraft capable of carrying nuclear warheads

B52 Bomber Crash: Eight crew members are believed ‌to ⁠have died ⁠in a B-52 bomber crash ⁠at California's ‌Edwards Air Force Base ⁠on Monday, CNN reported, citing the ‌base. An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying eight people on a routine test mission crashed today shortly after take-off at 11.20 am (PDT). Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable, said a statement from Edwards Air Force Base.

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.




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.

B-52 Bomber Stratofortress

The Stratofortress, designed and built by Boeing, 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.