Posted on 02/22/2008 7:24:28 PM PST by AzSteven
Damn.
Damn, my brother is stationed on Guam.
http://www.kuam.com/news/26596.aspx
KUAM News has learned that a B-2 stealth bomber crashed at Andersen Air Force Base this morning. The incident happened at around 10:45am Saturday, as information we’ve gathered so far indicates that a lead B-2 aircraft took off and became safely airborne, but when minutes later a second bomber took off for reasons that are unknown at this point, that aircraft crashed.
However, at least two pilots were ejected before the plane hit. Their conditions are unknown at this time. AAFB public affairs officials have not been able to be reached for comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, Yigo residents have reported that they’ve seen large plumes of black smoke coming from the nearby military base. Additionally, according to Guam Fire Department Angel Llagas, a large explosion was also reported to the island’s 911 service this morning, and two units responded to the area.
This is the second military aircraft that has crashed in the last 11 days. On February 12 a Navy Ea-6b Prowler attached to the U.S.S. Kittyhawk strike group went down about 20 miles to the north of AAFB. All four of the pilots in that incident were released from the hospital with minor injuries.
Some facts about the B-2 Spirit Bomber:
- Assigned to 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron
- Homebased out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri
- Deployed to Guam as part of continuous bomber presence in Asia-Pacific region
- Primary function: Multi-role heavy bomber
- Armament: Conventional/nuclear weapons
- Payload: 40,000 lbs.
- Crew: Two pilots
- Unit cost: Approximately $1.2 billion
~~~
Prayers for the safety of our pilots.
Oh no!
Hope & pray it turns out to be a hard landing or nicking a vehicle on the tramac.
Just DAMN!
MI PING!
opps - too slow in typing. Well, I’ll change that to hope the two crew that ejected are okay.
Indeed prayers for our airmen to be safe and sound.
Thanks for this report, Starwise!
At $1,200,000,000 per plane, this will be the most thoroughly investigated Air Force crash in history.
Also, unless something extraordinary happened, like a flock of birds being ingested into both engines causing the crash, this will ground the B-2 fleet.
Probably good news for the crew, thank God, but not so good for a billion dollar military asset.
“Unit cost: Approximately $1.2 billion”
Yes prayers for the aircrew and also pray that they didn’t sign for the damn thing. It’ll take awhile to pay off $1.2B even with flight pay.
Prayers for their safety.
I hope the crew is OK. There are not many B2s and they cost so much!
Yep.
This is the second airforce incident in as many days. I wonder what’s going on, first the f-15s and now this. Very strange.
Glad to hear the crew ejected. Sometimes things break. The things you can’t see coming at you.
Something like that on takeoff.......usually both engines quitting at once and a quick decision to eject. A lot of other failures would involve flying around for a while and running checklists to solve the problem.
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