May 192016
 

American B-52 bomber crashes in Guam

The article is pretty lean on details, but given that all seven crew managed to escape unharmed from the plane *after* it crashed (“shortly after takeoff”), and the lone photo shows the plane on fire but not scattered across the landscape, I’d guess it had some sort of engine trouble and either flopped off the end of the runway or tried to go-around but didn’t quite make it.

Whatever the cause is, I would almost certainly be unsurprised. These planes are about twice as old as the pilots who fly them. Remember the XB-70, the Mach 3 superbomber from the early 1960’s? It was intended to *replace* the B-52.

 Posted by at 7:30 am