Two historic military aircraft collided mid-air and crashed to the ground Saturday during an air show in Dallas, Texas, exploding in a fireball and sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.
It is unknown how many people were on board the plane or if anyone on the ground was injured.
Leah Block, a spokeswoman for the Memorial Air Force, which produced the Veterans Day weekend show and owns one of the aircraft, told ABC News that she believed there were five crew members on the B-17 bomber. Flying Fortress and one aboard the P-63 Kingcobra fighter.
The Houston-based plane was not providing rides to the public at the time, Block said.
Emergency teams went to the crash site at Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles from downtown. News footage broadcast live from the scene shows people placing orange cones around the twisted wreckage of the bomber, which was left on a grassy area.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said the National Transportation Safety Board had taken control of the crash scene with support from local police and firefighters.
“The videos are heartbreaking,” Johnson tweeted.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided around 1:20 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
The B-17, a massive four-engine bomber, was a cornerstone of American air power during World War II and is one of the most celebrated warplanes in American history.
The Kingcobra, an American fighter aircraft, was used primarily by Soviet forces during the war. Most of the B-17s were destroyed at the end of World War II and only a handful remain, mostly on display at museums and air shows, according to Boeing.
Several videos posted on Twitter show the fighter jet apparently flying towards the bomber.
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