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    A tragic collision of vintage airplanes at a show in Dallas [Aktualizacja]

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    During the Wings Over Dallas air show over the Dallas Executive Airport today at 1.20 p.m. local time, a tragic accident involving two historic aircraft took place. The P-63 Kingcobra fighter collided with a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber in the air. So far, there is no information on the number of victims or whether anyone on earth has been hurt.

    As can be seen from the recordings, the fighter disintegrated at the time of the collision, and the bomber burst its fuselage near the trailing edge of the airfoil. No information was given about the possible causes of the accident. The remains of both machines fell on road number 67, the authorities closed this section from traffic.

    The destroyed bomber was the B-17G-95-DL Texas Raiders (44-83872 / BuNo. 77235), owned by the Gulf Coast Wing, a subsidiary of the Commemorative Air Force. The machine rolled off the production line at Douglas – not Boeing – in July 1945, when the ground forces no longer needed bombers of this type. Many of them went straight to scrap, but this one was lucky and, along with thirty others, was seized by the Navy, which was looking for a platform for experiments with on-board radar stations.

    The future Texas Raiders was equipped with the AN / APS-20 radar and in May 1947 entered service with the US Navy under the designation PB-1W as one of the first early warning and control (AEW & C) aircraft in history. On January 15, 1955, after fruitful experimental and line service, he was sent to a graveyard in Arizona. The official website of the aircraft emphasized that it had flown 3257 hours, which placed it in fifth place among all Flying Fortresses in terms of a raid in military service, and yet it was so close to being scrapped.

    In 1957, the machine was bought for US $ 17,510 from the surplus by Aero Service Corporation, looking for an aircraft that could carry cameras and research equipment. The choice fell on BuNo. 77235, because the airframe had a considerable raid, but at the same time few flying hours since the last major repair. The plane then received the civil registration N7227C, which he carried until the very end. As a “civilian”, the former bomber then visited Canada and Scotland (where he participated in the search for oil deposits under the North Sea) and several countries of Central and South America.

    The Commemorative (then Confederate) Air Force began looking for a B-17 for its collection in 1963. Ultimately, the choice fell on a machine belonging to Aero Service. A price of a round $ 50,000 was negotiated, of which CAF paid $ 30,000, and the remainder – as the company predicted it would still need its B-17 occasionally – counted towards the subsequent loan fees from the new owners. The transaction was concluded on September 22, 1967.

    For the next few years, the plane flew little – there was simply no money in the CAF budget. As part of the savings, even turbochargers were removed, the maintenance of which was too expensive for an aircraft that did not need them. The breakthrough came in 1972, when the organization was invited to participate in two major aviation events, TRANSPO 72 in Washington and the Galveston Air Show. During the latter, CAF presented for the first time the legendary show of Tor, Torah, Torah, recreating the Japanese hit at Pearl Harbor. The following year, the bomber was finally named Texas Raiders.

    Back in the 1970s, the Texas Raiders received a red accent painting modeled on the machines of 533th Squadron 381st Bomb Group, and in the years 1983–1986 it underwent a major overhaul, during which it was finally restored to the configuration corresponding to the exterior of the B-17G version. In the year the Texas Raiders toured Canada and Alaska.

    The bomber’s future was put into question in 2001, when the Federal Aviation Administration issued an order to inspect the airfoil structure of all B-17s flying. To replace components that were found to be corrosion, they had to be manufactured from scratch. In addition, there were delays, financial problems and problems with the availability of the hangar where work could be carried out. In total, the entire venture cost $ 700,000 (which almost brought the Gulf Coast Wing to bankruptcy) and lasted … eight and a half years. After the renovation, the flight was not carried out until October 2009.

    In 2010, the Texas Raiders finally returned to making regular appearances at shows across the United States. This is what it looked like in 2016, just before the comprehensive repainting, during which the machine was given colors that better match those of the Second World War:

    The Texas Raiders was one of only five remaining Flying Fortresses on a regular basis in the world. Back in 2012, there were ten B-17s that not only flew, but also picked up passengers who were ready to pay for such an experience. Unfortunately, this number was gradually dropping. This was mainly due to the wear and tear of subsequent airframes, but unfortunately in 2019 we lost Nine-O-Nine in an accident, on which seven people died.

    Now only Sally B in the UK and Sentimental Journey, Yankee Lady and Ye Olde Pub in the US remain.

    The P-63 Kingcobra is a similar rarity, perhaps even bigger. The destroyed specimen was the P-63F (the world’s only flying representative of the version) with serial number 43-11719 and civil registration N6763. It was commissioned in the Army Air Force in September 1943, but only operated for twenty-four hours in line service. Shortly after the war it became the property of HL Pemberton, registered as N1719.

    Pemberton used his Kingcobra in air racing for several years. Later, for two decades, he changed hands, received new registrations, and still competed in races from time to time. In the late 1970s it was re-painted in colors roughly inspired by Soviet aviation (the Soviets received nearly 2,400 copies under the Lend Lease), and in 1981 it finally became the property of CAF and was registered as N6763. The original painting was also restored. In 2016, the machine was repainted, but the overall silver scheme was kept. A year later, she was permanently transferred to Dallas.

    After today’s accident, only four P-63s, three P-63As and one P-63C are also operational: Pretty Polly, Fatal Fang, an unnamed machine belonging to the Idaho museum, and another P-63 formally owned by CAF , jokingly called TEST. The CAF management made an unusual, but commendable decision regarding this fighter. Instead of “disguising” it as another front-line model, it was given the paint job it had actually worn since January 1945, when it was used as a test plane.

    Update (01.20): According to the latest data, six people died in the crash – the Kingcobra pilot and five people on board the Flying Fortress, only CAF members, no passengers. Nothing happened to anyone on earth.

    Alan Wilson, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

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