I hope everyone involved is okay.

sending good thoughts to the family of the crew....

A B-52 fully fueled and take-off is a flying bomb... there are not ejection seats on those planes.

This is bad

But the 2 crew on the lower deck eject downward. I believe those two need a minimum altitude of 250ft in order to keep the crew members safe.

I was stationed at a SAC base with B52s, and was given a glimpse on the inside of one. Massive aircraft.. I knew some airmen from Edward's AFB so this is very sad.

From time to time but where I saw several B52s sitting was at March AFB near Riverside, CA.

Not a good thing if one goes down on take-off. I have seen these things take off, crashing not an option. The last one I saw take off wash from a strange location for a large aircraft like that. It was when Obama came to YNP and the B52 with all the fire trucks and entourage were at our tiny airport in a basin surrounded by very high mountains. When that behemoth took off, it had to circle over town twice to get high enough to get over the continental divide. It was quite an exit. During that event I was just hoping it wouldn't crash as it maneuvered to gain altitude.

This news is probably not going to come out with a happy ending.

Usually means casualties =(

There's NOTHING left of that thing but ashes and a big char scar on the ground. I am thinking there are no survivors.

A culture of idiocy breeds a lot of accidents.

Or just telling the troops "if you aren't a straight White Xtian Male, you're a DEI hire and ain't worth shit..."
Not to mention rushing deployments while putting maintenance and training funding on the back burner.
It's all a Science Fiction or action flick to MAGA "leadership".
To MAGA leadership, Equipment doesn't need care and maintenance. It's always up when you turn it on. Guns and launchers don't run out of bullets or missiles.
Any time of the day or night, whether or not they've eaten that day, soldiers are expected to jump up, grab their rifles, and expertly take out the invading, screamin horde - except for the obligatory "red shirts" who are supposed to neatly fall down dead or shot in the arm or leg -
- all according to the script playing out in the gap between the average authoritarian idiot's ears.

B-52s shouldn't ever crash on take-off in a non-hostile area.

And pulling older equipment on line as well.

And the Air Force has been flying planes, including B-52s, pretty much constantly all over the place some "The War" started.
That's a lot of stress, especially on a plane that large.
But yeah, I can pretty much guarantee maintenance has been deferred.

Last edited Mon Jun 15, 2026, 05:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Horrific