A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed on Monday shortly after taking off from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of Southern California, and all eight crew members on board are believed to have died, according to the base.
The eight-engine jet aircraft, built to carry nuclear and conventional bombs, was on a routine mission when it crashed, Edwards Base said in a statement about four hours after the crash.
Footage from the crash site, 160 km north of Los Angeles, shows a charred, smoky area in the desert floor, about the size of a football field. No large pieces of debris were visible, as the plane had just taken off and was carrying a full load of fuel, causing a massive explosion.
"A B-52 Stratofortress aircraft, carrying eight people on a scheduled test mission, crashed today after takeoff at 11:20 a.m. Pacific Time. Initial indications show there were no survivors from the crash," the base said in its statement.
The statement added that an emergency team was at the accident site and that authorities were "working to locate all personnel." The Air Force said the cause of the crash is under investigation. Any ejection would have been immediately noticeable.
The Stratofortress, designed and built by Boeing, is a subsonic long-range aircraft that, according to the military, has long been the backbone of the US strategic bomber force.
The swept-wing aircraft is capable of carrying munitions, including cluster bombs and free-fall bombs, at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,166 meters).
Monday's incident marked the first crash of a B-52 Stratofortress since a bomber of the same type crashed on the island of Guam in May 2016.
Only the H model of the B-52 remains in use with the US Air Force. It 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 – as well as the 307th Bomb Wing of the Reserve Command at Barksdale, according to the military.
