B-52 Crash Kills All 4 on Board at Spokane Base

An Air Force B-52 bomber crashed in flames Friday at Fairchild Air Force Base, killing the four people aboard, officials said.

The low-flying plane was in a steep bank when it spun to the ground and exploded in a fireball. The victims were not immediately identified.

An Air Force board of officers will be appointed to determine the cause of the crash, said Staff Sgt. Allen Geisler.

“There was no fire, smoke--nothing until it hit the ground and there was a huge explosion. It was loud,” said Jeff Calohan, who saw the plane go down as he was heading to a base store.

A police officer responding to the fiery crash was taken to the base hospital for smoke inhalation, but no other injuries were reported on the ground.

An amateur videotape cameraman captured the crash and explosion of the plane, and the footage was shown by local and national TV news programs.

In a statement by a White House spokesman, President Clinton asked the nation to pray for the families of the four dead Air Force officers from the 12th Air Combat Command.

The B-52 was practicing touch-and-go landings, in which a plane briefly touches down on a runway then takes off again.

Another plane was flying behind the bomber, which was about 300 to 400 feet off the ground when it went down south of the base’s aircraft control tower shortly after 2 p.m.

Most of Fairchild’s B-52s were removed earlier this year as part of its transition to an air-refueling base, but several remained, including the one that crashed.

The Fairchild B-52s were equipped to carry nuclear weapons, but Geisler said the plane that crashed carried none.

Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall visited the base about 10 miles west of Spokane on Friday, but had left several hours before the crash. Her visit was prompted by Monday’s shooting spree by a disgruntled former airman. Six people, including the former airman, were killed and 23 were wounded.