Eight Air Force Crew Members Die in B-52 Crash at Edwards Base

Eight U.S. Air Force crew members were killed on Sunday night when a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California, northeast of Los Angeles. The aircraft was on a routine test flight when it went down minutes after departure.

Emergency teams reached the scene, but base officials said early indications showed the impact was so severe that survival was not likely and rescue chances were effectively nil. Images from the site showed large burn marks on the sandy runway and wreckage that was difficult to distinguish.

After the crash, the base airfield was shut down completely. Incoming flights were diverted, and all noncommercial visitor clearances were suspended until further notice. Authorities also opened an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.

The disaster is the deadliest involving a B-52 since 1982, when nine crew members were killed during a training flight at Mather Air Force Base near Sacramento. The last fatal B-52 accident before this one was in 2008, when six crew members died in a crash near Guam. The B-52 Stratofortress entered service in 1955, production ended in 1962, and the current B-52H version can carry about 32 tons of weapons, including nuclear bombs. It has also taken part in strikes in the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict.