Forum: Mishaps

Barksdale confirms missing bomber is local
By John Andrew Prime • jprime@gannett.com • July 21, 2008


A Barksdale B-52 bomber deployed to Andersen Air Force Base is missing and feared lost in the waters off Guam, 2nd Bomb Wing and news sources on the island territory say.

The loss occurred just before 10:30 a.m. Monday, Guam time, or around 8:15 p.m. Shreveport time. That was when Col. Robert Wheeler, 2nd Bomb Wing commander, said he learned of the incident and efforts under way to find any wreckage and the crew members.

"Something did happen with one of our bombers," he said tonight. "It appears one of the jets has crashed."

He said information on the tail number of the airplane and the crew members isn't being released at this time, while efforts to find the personnel are underway.

Coast Guard Lt. Lee Putnam told Guam TV station KUAM that searchers are 25 nautical miles northwest of Apra Harbor and that the Coast Guard Cutter Assateague was called to respond, as well as four other boats. The station also said two Navy HSC25 aircraft are also in the area searching for the six crew members on the aircraft.

At the time of crash, weather in Guam was generally warm humid and fair, with isolated moderate rain showers and winds from the southeast at 5 to 10 mph.

Squadrons from Barksdale rotate to the Pacific bastion to project power in the region, to provide assets to forward commanders and for training. Now, most of the airplanes there are from the base's 20th Bomb Squadron, he said. But, Wheeler added, some personnel are from the 96th Bomb Squadron and the Reserves, so he could not definitively say the airplane or people were from one squadron or another.

The B-52 bomber, flying since 1952 and part of the Air Force arsenal since 1955, is a remarkably robust aircraft.

The last crash of the type was on June 24, 1994, when a bomber practicing for an air show at Fairchild Air Force Base, near Spokane, Wash., crashed, killing all four crew members. The cause of that crash was determined to be recklessness on the part of the pilot, who banked the airplane too steeply at too low an altitude.

Prior to that, the last B-52 to crash was in early February 1991, when an airplane returning from a Desert Storm mission crashed into the Indian Ocean 15 miles north of Diego Garcia. The cause of the crash, which killed three of the six crew members, was determined to have been an electrical failure.

The accident is the second for the Air Force this year on Guam, a U.S. territory 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.

In February, a B-2 crashed there shortly after takeoff in the first-ever crash of that type. Both pilots ejected safely. The military estimated the cost of the loss of the aircraft at $1.4 billion, according to the Associated Press.

According to KUAM, 36th Wing Public Affairs Sgt. Stephen Teel said a B-52 was scheduled to participate in a flyover during a parade in Guam remembering the U.S. liberation of the island from Japanese occupation in 1944. But he did not confirm the missing aircraft was that bomber.

The station said Federal Aviation Administration personnel there are checking tapes and radar displays to review events that led up to the crash. The B-52 left Andersen Air Force Base at 9 a.m. local time, and was lost on radar just under 90 minutes later.

"We are always worried about the possibility of loss," Wheeler said, adding at this time his concern is for the families of the deployed crew members.

The Air Force said a board of officers will investigate the accident.

source: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbc ... 1/80720010

I think they eject 4 up 2 down. Not positive though. Kind of a somber mood here watching all the HSC25 helos and fighters going out to look for those missing 4. I just hope they find the rest of the crew one way or another and prey for them and their families.

Salute all!

This does not look good.

Latest report I have is two crew found, deceased.

Any buff folks here? How many folks eject up and how many down?

My sad reading of this is "controlled flight into terrain/sea". This is despite an early morning time - daylight. 30 miles out seems a bit far for a descent to final altitude, but we'll see. No good weather report yet, so that may have been a factor.

Remember that I figured out the Blue Angel incident last year when no one wanted to admit it could be the pilot and not the plane.

Sad, sad

Gums sends ....

Search for four missing airmen continues after B-52 crash off Guam
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Updated Tuesday, July 22, at 6 a.m. EDT

TOKYO – As military and local rescue units in Guam continued a search Tuesday evening for four missing airmen from the previous day’s B-52 crash, the mood turned more somber.

“Although we continue to hold out hope, we’ve had no encouraging indicators that our airmen survived this crash,” Brig. Gen. Douglas Owens, the commander of the 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, said in a release.

The bodies of two members of the six-person crew were recovered Monday after the morning crash at sea. Military officials have not identified any of the six pending family notifications.

A family member in Ohio identified one of the six airmen as Col. George Martin, a doctor in the medical command at Andersen, according to reports from WBNS 10TV in Columbus.

The five other members are from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., as part of a unit currently deployed to Guam.

On Tuesday afternoon, search crews from the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Guam’s police and fire departments were working in a 900-mile radius beginning from the crash site, about 25 miles northwest of Guam, according the release. They were searching waters about 1,000 meters deep, according to spokesman Capt. Joel Stark.

The B-52H Stratofortress crashed about 9:45 a.m. Monday, local time, about 45 minutes after it took off from Andersen with no weapons or munitions aboard, according to Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration officials.

The plane was on a training flight that was to include participation in the island’s Liberation Day celebration, according to the Air Force.

Col. Robert Wheeler, commander of Barksdale’s 2nd Bomb Wing, told reporters in Louisiana that the aircraft went down because of a “mishap,” according to multiple media reports.

“We don’t have a lot of facts at this point,” Wheeler said at a news conference, according to the Shreveport Times.

The Air Force has said a board of officers will investigate the crash. The status of the investigation was unknown Tuesday afternoon.

Equipment and personnel involved in the search on Tuesday included two Coast Guard ships, the USS John McCain from Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Navy helicopters from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25, F-15Es from the 389th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, and a Navy P-3 Orion from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

The Coast Guard was on the scene within 45 minutes of the crash, according to Owens. Searchers found debris there, according to a Coast Guard spokeswoman. The large search area is, in part, in case any crew members were able to eject before the crash, she said.

“We recognize, however, that the longer this search continues the less likelihood there is that we’ll find survivors,” Owens said in the press release. “Our hearts and prayers go out to all the family members and friends of our missing aircrew as we continue our search and rescue efforts.”

Stark said the search efforts are to continue overnight.

Martin, a military doctor for more than 25 years, was identified by his sister, Clarissa Clark, according to WBNS. He was a graduate of Ohio State University Medical School and a physician for NASA, the television station reported.

It was unclear why he was aboard the plane. The B-52 is normally crewed by a five-person team, according to the Air Force’s Web site.

The B-52, the military’s longest range bomber, was deployed to Andersen from Barksdale, according to an Air Force release. The deployment is part of the Air Force’s rotation that routinely sends fighters and bombers to Guam. There are now eight B-52s at Andersen, Stark said.

Guam’s Liberation Day celebrates July 21, 1944, when U.S. Forces captured the Japanese-held island.

source: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?sect ... icle=56280

My sad reading of this is "controlled flight into terrain/sea"

Officials name downed B-52 aircrew members

7/23/2008 - BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AFPN) -- Air Force officials have released the names of the Barksdale crew members of the B-52 that crashed July 21 off Guam's northwest coast. Five of the six crew members were stationed here.

They are Maj. Christopher M. Cooper, 33, aircraft commander; Maj. Brent D. Williams, 37, navigator; Capt. Michael K. Dodson, 31, co-pilot; 1st Lt. Joshua D. Shepherd, 26, navigator; and 1st Lt. Robert D Gerren, 32, electronic warfare officer.

The sixth crew member was Col. George Martin, flight surgeon and deputy commander of 36th Medical Group at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

The Barksdale Airmen were deployed to Guam with the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron as part of DOD's continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families of these Airmen," said Col. Robert Wheeler, 2d Bomb Wing commander. "We appreciate the military and civilian organizations who are continuing recovery efforts to bring our Airmen home."

A board of officers is investigating the accident.

source: http://www.acc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123107856

An improper stabilizer trim setting caused the
July 21 crash of an Air Force B-52 aircraft northwest of Guam, according to an Air Combat Command accident investigation board report released today.

Analysis of aircraft parts found during salvage operations revealed the aircraft's stabilizer trim was set between approximately 4.5 and 5.0 degrees nose-down at impact. According to the investigation board, this indicates an improper stab trim setting of an aircraft in a nose low descent at low altitude.