Posted on 11/30/2022 1:54:31 PM PST by DFG
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday released its preliminary report on the deadly plane air show plane crash in Dallas earlier this month.
Just after 1:20 p.m. on Nov. 12, five people on board a B-17 Flying Fortress were killed along with the pilot of a P-63 King Cobra during the Wings Over Dallas air show that featured several World War II-era planes.
A full investigation could take up to 12-18 months, according to the NTSB, and the report released Wednesday were the initial findings by investigators.
According to recorded audio for the airshow radio transmissions and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data, the air boss, who was directing the show, directed the Bell P-63F King Cobra, which was in a three-ship formation of historic fighter airplanes, and the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, which was in a five-ship formation of historic bomber airplanes, to maneuver southwest of the runway before returning to the flying display area.
The NTSB report says the air boss told the fighter formation to transition to a trail formation, fly in front of the bomber formation and head toward the 500-foot show line. The bombers were told to fly down the 1,000-foot show line.
The NTSB report says the 500-foot show line and the 1,000-foot show line were 500 feet and 1,000 feet from the airshow viewing line, behind where the audience viewed the show.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
True. It had a bad problem with engine fires at the beginning. So did the B-24. In both cases they plowed ahead rather than stop production to address the problem.
They just tried to introduce fixes in models as possible in production. They literally knew most of the early models would be gone soon anyway.
They were not built to last, most of those planes were expected to be wrecks within the first couple of hundred hours.
Iwo Jima saved many many aircrews. The first ones even as the battle raged.
Interestingly, a B-29 that was pulled out of the ice in Greenland in the 90s ended up burning down before they were going to fly it away.
I think the government's rationale was that a victory at the end would justify the losses of life.
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