Crash of B-52 off Guam kills 3
Massive search ensues for 3 others
HONOLULU - An Air Force B-52 plane crashed off Guam yesterday morning, killing at least three airmen and leading to an intensive ocean search for the remaining three crew members, the military said.
A destroyer and two other vessels, three helicopters, two F-15 jets, and a Navy P-3 Orion aircraft based in Japan were involved in the search, which covered about 3,000 square miles of the Pacific, said Lieutenant John Titchen, a Coast Guard spokesman.
"We've basically saturated that area," said Titchen, who called search conditions "ideal," with light winds, calm seas, and good visibility.
The unarmed B-52 bomber was en route from Guam's Andersen Air Force Base to conduct a flyover in a parade on another part of the island when it crashed about 9:45 a.m. yesterday about 30 miles northwest of Apra Harbor, the Air Force said.
The Liberation Day parade celebrates the day the US military arrived on Guam to retake control of the island from Japan.
The Air Force said a board of officers will investigate the accident. The three crew members were wearing life vests when their bodies were recovered.
The accident is the second for the Air Force this year on Guam, a US territory 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.
In February, a B-2 crashed at Andersen shortly after takeoff in the first-ever crash of a stealth bomber. Both pilots ejected safely. The military estimated the cost of the loss of the aircraft at $1.4 billion.
The plane that crashed yesterday was based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and deployed to Guam as part of the Pentagon's continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific. The Air Force has been rotating B-1, B-2, and B-52 planes through Guam since 2004 to boost the US security presence in the Asia-Pacific region while other American forces in the area have been sent to the Middle East.
The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can refuel in midair. Since the 159-foot-long bomber was first placed into service in 1955, it has been used for a wide range of missions from attacks to ocean surveillance. The Air Force has 93 B-52s remaining in its fleet. 