Posted on 02/22/2008 8:22:49 PM PST by Halgr
B-2 Stealth Bomber Crashes on Guam
11 minutes ago
HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A B-2 stealth bomber crashed at an air base on Guam but both pilots ejected safely and were in good condition, the Air Force said.
Thick black smoke could be seen billowing from the wreckage at Andersen Air Force Base, said Geanne Ward, a resident in the northern village of Yigo who was on the base visiting her husband.
Ward said she didn't witness the crash but noticed a rising plume of smoke behind the base's air control tower.
She said crowds began to gather as emergency vehicles arrived Saturday morning local time.
"Everybody was on their cell phones, and the first thing everyone wanted to know was did the pilots make it out in time," she said.
A board of officers will investigate the accident.
Each B-2 bomber costs about $1.2 billion to build. All 21 stealth bombers are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri but the Air Force has been rotating several of them through Guam since 2004, along with B-1 and B-52 bombers.
The rotations are designed to boost the U.S. security presence in the Asia-Pacific region while other U.S. forces diverted to fight in the Middle East.
The accident occurred 11 days after a Navy plane crashed into the ocean about 20 miles northeast of Guam's Ritidian Point. Four aircrew members ejected from the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft and were rescued by helicopter.
Guam is a U.S. territory 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.
O god not another one that makes two today
What is going on with our aircraft?
Dang.
21 doesn’t seem like enough. Now only 20. But thank God the pilots survived.
You are horrible! :0)
Bush’s fault
/s
Overuse? We can't be the police force of the entire f*ing planet without consequences and expenses.
21 wasn’t enough. Attrition is inevitable. ya can’t tell that to Congress, though.
:0)
:0)
Very true.
You can only neglect aircraft for so long before they start crashing. The military has been grossly underfunded and mismanaged for decades, so here’s the inevitable result. Entire F-15 fleet grounded due to major structural problems, stealth bombers crashing on takeoff, who knows what’s next?
I was a jet mechanic in the Navy for four years, and one of the things I found out was...we lose a lot of aircraft.
In my time in, I literally saw six aircraft crash, and one we lost in the Bermuda Triangle that just went out and disappeared and never came back.
I am just one person. With all of our military aircraft all over the world, it happens ALL THE TIME. We only heard about this because the thing is...gulp...a billion dollars. Oh man.
But planes crash all the time, and often unless you are in the region where it happens and see it in the paper, nobody sees them all. It is sobering, but true. Flying complex, high performance military aircraft that are maintained by 19 year old people is a risky business, especially when you train as you fight the way we do.
Hope they're ok.
“who knows what’s next?”
More of the same if A Dem takes the WH.
Will they Blame the Crash on San Miquel.. that seems to be the Common thread..as there is nothing to do on Guam but Drink...San Miquel..
I bet you the planes are insured... but unfortunately have a One Bounce Deductible
I was just thinking about those crashes.
F-14 went over the side due to a haywire fuel control in the North Atlantic. (this was a famous one, it had a Phoenix missile on it, and the Soviets saw it go in the water...they searched for months for the wreckage to make sure the Russkies didn’t get it) I was sitting in my plane trying to sleep, and the whole plane shook violently as the Tomcat did a 90 turn right behind me directing its exhaust at my plane from close range at near full power. The pilot was standing on the brakes trying to control it, and they both ejected as the plane disappeared over the side. I saw just a glimpse of the tail when I looked back, with everyone running that way.
An A-6 Tanker just took off one day east of Cape Hatteras and never came back. Never heard from them, never found any wreckage.
A SH-3 Sea King went down off the side of the ship, flipped over and sank while everyone watched.
An A-7 from my squadron had a cold cat shot and went right off the waist cat into the water. While everyone watched, the swimmers tried to rescue the pilot, but he became increasingly entangled in his shrouds and got dragged under and drowned. They finally got him aboard doing CPR, but he was gone.
An RF-8 Crusader went right off the bow cat, immediately banked to the right and plowed into the water and disappeared. Immediately. It was amazing to see, it disappeared faster than a rock with holes in it. The pilot ejected at a steep angle and hit the water before his chute opened completely, but he lived.
An F-14 busted its hook off when it caught the wire during darkened ship exercises, and slowed down too much and the crew ejected. I watched that plane lumber by me less than 50 feet away (I was on the bow) climb slowly out in front of the ship, its shape silhouetted against the stars, then slowly fall tail first, twisting and inverting to disappear in a circle of white foam a few hundred yards in front of the ship. I watched in horror saying over and over to myself “Those guys better eject...eject...eject!” and they never did. I was dumbstruck, then the white lights on the ship came on as the air boss said over the 1MC “Plane in the water!” When I looked back, I saw two chutes come down, one went into the water just off the port quarter, and the other landed on the side of a E-2 Hawkeye on the deck.
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