A WWII-era B-17 Flying Fortress plane has crashed while attempting to land, killing an unknown number of people on board. The plane crashed into a building near an airport.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Hill
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A WWII-era bomber crashed in the US state of Connecticut on Wednesday, killing at least seven people. Public Safety Commissioner James Rovella told a news conference it was too early to say how many had died.
The B-17 bomber, better known as the Flying Fortress, crashed shortly after take off at Bradley International Airport. The pilot was attempting to land when the plane hit a maintenance shed and burst into flames.
The plane was carrying 13 people, including the pilot. One person on the ground was injured.
Some people suffered severe burns, authorities said. Health authorities said five people who were on board the plane had been transported to Hartford Hospital.
Officials said the plane had reported a problem and was not gaining altitude. "We could see they could not gain altitude. Upon touchdown they obviously lost control, struck our de-icing facility here as well as a maintenance facility," James Rovella, a Connecticut state disaster emergency official, told reporters.
The US aviation authority, the FAA, declared that the airport was temporarily closed for arrivals and departures due to the crash.
The aircraft belonged to the Collings Foundation, which is concerned with the history of aviation and operates several historic aircraft. It was also involved in a crash in 1987 at an air show near Pittsburgh, when it overshot the runway and injured three people.
The B-17 Flying Fortress dropped almost half off all US bombs dropped on Germany during WWIImage: picture-alliance/Xinhua/R. Lakin
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was one of the main bombers used against Germany in WWII, dropping almost half of all American bombs dropped in Nazi Germany. The long-range bomber was notoriously tough and was also used in the Pacific theater.
The US Air Force stopped flying the aircraft in 1959.
There are very few such aircraft that are still airworthy.
aw/msh (AP, dpa)
Europe's major plane crashes of the 21st century
DW takes a look at a few of the most deadly and significant plane crashes in Europe in the 21st century.
Image: AP/Toshihiko Sato
European aviation disasters of the 21st century: Germanwings Airbus A320
A Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed into the French Alps on March 24, 2015 during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. A co-pilot with mental problems intentionally crashed the plane.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
Rebels in eastern Ukraine were accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, 193 of them Dutch. A Dutch investigation found pro-Russian rebels shot the plane down with a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from separatist territory in eastern Ukraine.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Dunand
Polish President Lech Kaczynski killed
A Polish air force plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Russian airport of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. A Russian and Polish investigation found pilot error during landing in thick fog caused the crash that killed more than 90 people. Jaroslaw Kaczynski (pictured), the twin brother of Lech and leader of the ruling PiS, has suggested the crash was a political assassination.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kaminski
Air France Flight 447
An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the Atlantic on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. It took nearly two years for the black box (pictured) to be recovered from the bottom of the ocean. The investigation found a combination of technical and pilot error caused the crash.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Spanair Flight 5022
A Spanair MD-82 plane crashed after take-off from Madrid airport on August 20, 2008, killing 154 people. Amazingly, 18 people survived the crash and subsequent fire. The crash was caused by an improper flap and slat configuration and a failure of the pilots to follow a pre-flight checklist.
Image: AP
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612
A Russian passenger plane operated by Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise crashed near the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk on August 22, 2006, killing all 170 people aboard. The plane was flying from St. Petersburg to the Black Sea resort of Anapa.
Image: AP
Helios Airways Flight 522
A Helios Airways flight from Cyprus crashed on August 14, 2005 near its destination Athens, killing all 121 on board. The crash was caused by a loss of cabin pressurization that immobilized the crew. The plane flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
Image: AP
Überlingen mid-air collision
On the night of July 1, 2002, a DHL cargo plane flying near the southern German town of Überlingen struck a Russian passenger jet carrying mostly schoolchildren to Barcelona, Spain. The two men aboard the DHL plane and all 69 passengers and crew on Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 perished. Swiss air traffic control firm Skyguide was found to be at fault for the tragedy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Haid
SAS Flight 686
On October 8, 2001 a Scandinavian Airlines MD-87 airliner collided with a small Cessna on take-off from Milan's Linate Airport. All 114 people on the SAS and Cessna aircraft were killed, as were four people on the ground. The accident happened in thick fog. The SAS plane crashed into a hangar.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ansa
Air France Concorde Flight
On July 25, 2000 an Air France Concorde flight from Paris to New York crashed two minutes after take-off, killing 109 people on board and four people on the ground. The crash was caused by the Concorde running over a piece of debris on the runway, which sent tire debris into part of the fuel tank that burst into flames.
