Eight Dead After US Air Force B-52 Bomber Crashes In California

[andy06shake]

Eight people, including two Boeing employees, have been killed after a US Air Force B-52 bomber crashed immediately after take-off from Edwards Air Force Base in southern California.
The incident occurred at 11:20 local time (19:20 GMT) on Monday while the aircraft had been on a routine test mission. The crash sent a huge plume of black smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
"Today, Edwards Air Force Base experienced a terrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans," Col James Hayes said, describing them as a "mixed crew of military, government civilians and government contractors".
The base earlier said that initial indications were that the crash "was not survivable".
The crew's next of kin were being notified, and they will be named 24 hours after that, Hayes said in an afternoon briefing.
The crash was "totally contained" within the Edwards Air Force Base on the runway, Hayes said, and the base has temporarily grounded operations.

A tragic loss of eight lives.

Rest in peace...

A sobering reminder that even decades-old, highly tested aircraft like the B-52 can fail catastrophically.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqx10yql319o
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/15/us/b-...california

[Knows]

I know someone that works there. But have lost track of him. He works on aircraft. Speeds up his work to whatever unethical standard management requires. 

Air force officials have released the names of the eight men killed in this week’s fiery crash of a B-52 during a test flight at Edwards air force base in southern California.

[SteamyAmerican]

Wasn’t this actually one of two that went down?

I could have sworn another B-52 in another part of the world didn’t make it either.

[Doc Apocalypse]

I'm actually surprised more B52's haven't crashed.  How old is that plane now?  There should have been either a superceding design or newer ones manufactured a long time ago.

[andy06shake]

I'm actually surprised more B52's haven't crashed.  How old is that plane now?  There should have been either a superceding design or newer ones manufactured a long time ago.

The B-52 is astonishingly old piece of equipment.

It entered service in 1955, and the newest B-52s still flying today were built in 1961–62, making the youngest airframes around 64–65 years old.

But the reason the B-52 survives isn't that nothing replaced it.

It's because it's extremely good at a specific job...

[Doc Apocalypse]

The B-52 is astonishingly old piece of equipment.

It entered service in 1955, and the newest B-52s still flying today were built in 1961–62, making the youngest airframes around 64–65 years old.

But the reason the B-52 survives isn't that nothing replaced it.

It's because it's extremely good at a specific job...

Or is it because Congress never wants to allocate money to an expensive replacement?

[andy06shake]

Or is it because Congress never wants to allocate money to an expensive replacement?

Technically, there have been successors, the B-1 Lanncer, B-2 Spirit, and the new B-21 Raider.

But it's a huge, long-range missile and bomb truck that can carry a massive payload...