A serious crash of a B-52 during a test flight this week at Edwards Air Force Base in California killed eight people, including four active-duty pilots, one reservist and three civilians who were part of a team working to keep the bomber flying for decades to come, military officials said Wednesday.
The airport where a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday remains closed, but operations at other bases have resumed, according to a base spokesman. The cause has not yet been determined. Officials said the investigation could take six months to complete.
The victims were identified as: Col. Gregory Watson, 53; retired Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, 50; Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40; Maj. Alexander Davis, 34; Maj. Robert Dee, 40; Maj. Brad Hovey, 35; Jerome Smith, 32; and Christopher Rischal, 41.
“They are dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates,” Col. Thomas Tower, 412th Test Wing commander at Edwards, said in a statement.
Weapons systems officer Watson and pilot Middleton were both Boeing employees, and the company said, “Our team is deeply saddened by their deaths and our hearts go out to their families, loved ones and those who worked with them.”
Engineer remembered for his passion for flying
Rischar was a flight test engineer for government contractor JT4 and had worked for Edwards for 10 years, said his wife, Rebecca Rischar. She said he loved going to airplane museums and showing their two children, ages 15 and 14, different types of airplanes and how they operated.
She recalled how her husband’s father, who also worked at the base and witnessed the crash, called her to ask if Christopher was flying.
“I know he was on that flight,” she said Wednesday. “It was routine and if the plane was airborne, he was airborne.”
Rebecca and Christopher, who met in a church youth group while attending the same high school near Lancaster, celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary in April. He had just started helping their teenage daughter learn how to drive.
“Our marriage was not just for this life on earth, but for eternity, so we were sealed together,” she told The Associated Press.
Bombers are part of testing program
The B-52 that crashed on Monday was taking part in a test mission as part of a plan to keep the 65-year-old bomber fleet operational until at least 2050. An Air Force news release at the time said the bomber arrived in Edwards in December after being installed with a modernized radar at the Boeing plant in San Antonio.
The Air Force said the plan is to use the bomber as a test platform in 2026 to help military officials decide whether to proceed with the B-52 radar modernization program.
For nearly a decade before the aircraft was used as a test platform, it was based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, where the bomber was the flagship of the base’s 307th Bomb Wing.
Its pilot, Colonel Bruce Cox (a Texas A&M University alumnus), called the bomber the “Spirit of Aggieland.” A 2015 Air Force press release said the bomber was “dedicated to former and future cadets graduating from the Texas A&M University Cadet Corps program.”
Cox will make his final flight in the bomber before retiring in 2017, according to the service’s Facebook page.
Collapse comes quickly
The plane took off shortly before noon on a clear day, heading southwest in the prevailing wind. It flew straight and crashed on the same 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway. The compact wreckage showed the plane had plummeted.
Aviation safety experts said their first thoughts on what might have caused the crash were flight control or engine failure, but it was too early to tell. Investigators will consider several factors, including the age and maintenance of the aircraft.
Aerial footage showed that the plane that crashed at the base in the Mojave Desert, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, left almost no trace.
Lauren Smith told Eyewitness News KBAK-CBS and FOX58 that her husband, Jeromy Smith, was a flight test engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense and died while doing what he loved.
“It was a horrific injury and I’m still processing everything that happened,” she said Tuesday.
The B-52 is a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955 and was designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons. It has been used in conflicts involving U.S. troops from Vietnam to Iran. .
Edwards is home to the 412th Test Wing, which conducts developmental testing of all aircraft, weapons systems, software and components before the Air Force acquires them and on a regular basis throughout their life cycle. Officials said Edwards will be on testing duty every day.
In 1947, Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager reached Mach 1.05 and broke the sound barrier.
