B-17 and P-63 collide in mid-air over Dallas
B-17G Texas Raiders in 2011
During the Wings Over Dallas airshow today, a tragedy has struck. A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, executing a fly-by, was struck in mid-air by a Bell P-63 Kingcobra. The dramatic video was captured from multiple angles. The Kingcobra disintegrates immediately and the mighty Fort’ is cut in half before crashing. If anyone survived, it would be a miracle to say the least.
— Giancarlo (@GianKaizen) November 12, 2022
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It looks like the B-17 in question was a very late-war B-17G model. Assigned USAAF serial 44-83872 and then Navy BuNo. 77235, spent many years in Navy service as a PB-1W patrol bomber and early AWACS. She was bought in the 60s by the Confederate Air Force, and restored to a wartime B-17G configuration of an ETO bomber of the 8th Air Force. She was named “Texas Raiders” in honor of Texan veterans of the war.
I can’t find which specific P-63 was involved in today’s wreck, but there were only four airworthy examples as of this morning.
Category: Air Force, Breaking News
RIP to all onboard both aircraft.
Holy crap!
VERY SAD!! Not only for the loss of the aircraft, but even more for the crews.
Now there are only two B-17’s left still flying in the world.
I flew on B-17 Aluminum Overcast a few years back. Quite an experience.
I flew aboard the B-17 Nine-O-Nine too many years ago
with my dad who was a Gunner/Togglier in WW2.
In fact, three times over the years before she crashed.
It is indeed a quite an experience.
I fully concur with how sad the loss of both planes and crew is, but I thought there were 9 airworthy flying fortresses prior to this.
When I was at the Mesa, AZ CAF base in April, I got to watch them test fly Sentimental Journey after its winter maintenance. The crew told me that it was one of three remaining airworthy B-17’s in the world. It, one in the UK and this one that was lost yesterday.
I dont even know what to say about that. Condolences to the families.
Wow, that looked really bad. Man’s flying through the sky is the ultimate conceit. Those in the air need never forget that.
Prayers to the families.
Some here may know a bit about this. The flights I came closest to an untimely demise on were the ubiquitous routine training missions.
Well, just DAMN! That P-63 looked like it did a straight run into the Fort. Tragic loss of the crews and the aircraft.
Nice nod to the history of these planes, Mason. They were, indeed, called the Confederate Air Force until the beginnings of all the hatred of all things Confederate. Forcing the change of that name might have been one of the first assaults on Southern Heritage.
Godspeed and Farewell to the crew members. May God’s Peace bring His Comfort to the families.
Either guy was turning onto the same approach as the Fort and couldn’t see it under his nose (possible) or he was being silly playing “Me-109” and misjudged the closing speeds (oops).
I wonder if he was looking up and back at the other two planes he was with and forgot about or misjudged the overtake on the B-17.
Bless them all.
NY Post has yet another angle. Looks like this was part of a larger fly-by. Doesn’t help shed too much light on the what happened though. Either colossal pilot error or some major equipment malfunction.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/12/planes-collide-over-wings-over-dallas-air-show/
Most of those Confederate Air Force pilots are senior citizens. It could very well have been a sudden health event like a heart attack or a stroke on the part of the P-63 pilot. Even a less serious event, like a transient ischemic attack could have been enough to impair the
P-63 pilot.
It’s a tragedy on many levels…
It doesn’t look like the P-63 ever even saw the B-17.
Gut punch.
A terrible tragedy.
Our prayers for the families of the crew.
RIP!
Thats $hity
RIP
That’s a photo of all who were on the aircraft?
If there can be a positive in this horrible tragedy, it’s that they didn’t even know what happened it was so fast. They woke up in Heaven going “what the heck just happened?!!!”
Rest in peace.
They died doing something they loved, which beats the hell out of going out hooked to a bunch of tubes and wires in a hospital or hospice.
It is unlikely that all those men were onboard. The aircraft can be safely flown with a crew of three. On my flight there were only three onboard, the pilot, co-pilot and crew chief/engineer.
There were apparently five onboard on the B-17. Six died in the mid-air collision. The P-63 is a single-seat fighter.
Haven’t posted here in a while but this breaks my heart. As a kid I went to the Confederate Air Force Air Show every year when it was held at Rebel Field in Harlingen, more than once with my uncle who was a B-17 gunner in WWII and went to aerial gunnery school at Harlingen Army Airfield. Given the timeline of this aircraft it is a good bet that I saw this aircraft as a young man.
God’s comfort and mercy to the families. That is just terrible.
Odd one should mention “playing Me-109,” many of the P-63s kept in the US during World War II were used to train B-17 and B-24 aerial gunners on how to shoot. These Kingcobras were specially armored and equipped with lights to indicate hits as the gunner trainees fired at them with frangible bullets. These RP-63s were called Flying Pinballs.
News reports are saying it was a CAF P-63. Dixie Wing owns the P-63A-6 42-68941. The P-63F 43-11719 in Houston is also flyable. There are two other non-CAF P-63s that are flyable, another P-63A and a P-63C.
Airborne Brother says they were out of Ellington, where he works.
I’ve long thought that these historic airplanes should not be flown anymore. There is only a finite amount of them and when they fail it is usually with supporters and the pilots that are also lost with them.
Godspeed to the nine souls that have crossed the bridge of no return, may they find the peace that comes from the love of those that surround them in abundance.
God Bless the families and friends of all those lost in this horrible accident.
These artifacts of a harder time deserve to be remembered in a place that all the following generations can view.
And may the klowne teachers union thugs actually start teaching real history to the youngest generation.
My DAV Daughter pulled her kids out of school and is now home schooling them.
She said, just like the Grunt Medic she is, I’ll be dipped in dog shit before I’ll let those asswipes tell my boys to cut off their dicks.
She’s a great kid !!!
[…] talked about this B-17/P-63 crash when it happened last month. I came across a YouTube video that explores the how it happened, now […]