HUGE BOMBER CRASHES

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27441, 30 August 1954, Page 11

HUGE BOMBER CRASHES

Nineteen Of Crew Killed

RAPID CITY( South Dakota), Aug. 28. At least 19 crew members were killed last night when a B-36 bomber crashed in flames after hitting a small mound while coming in for a landing at the Ellsworth Air Force base near here. Three others were taken to the base hospital in a critical condition. The huge plane, the largest of the United States propeller-driven bombters, crashed into the ground one mile north-west of the base on a ranch owned by Mr Alfred Swallow. Mr Swallow said he was about to retire when he felt a “concussion which shook the ground.” He saw flames light up the sky immediately and drove to the scene. Fierce flames were sweeping the wreckage by the time he and his son reached it. There were a number of explosions, apparently of fuel tanks and ammunition. The plane had been on a routine training flight out of the Ellsworth base. Air Force officers said the B-36 normally carried a crew of 22, but they were checking reports that there might have been 27 aboard the crashed plane.