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B-17 Plane From World War II Crashes at Bradley Airport, Killing at Least 7

The crash at the airport in Connecticut, outside Hartford, involved an antique military aircraft. The plane carried 13 people.

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Witness Describes B-17 Crash Near Hartford

An antique military plane carrying 13 people crashed while trying to land at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut.

We were watching it as it was flying away from us. He wasn’t really gaining altitude and then one of the engines started to sputter. The one that’s on the co-pilot side, the number three engine just next to the fuselage — sputtered and smoke came straight out the back. And I said, ‘Oh, he just lost an engine.’ And then he didn’t climb anymore. He made a very, very, very wide turn. We lost him in the trees a little bit and then he came back and headed back towards the airport. We hoped he was O.K., and then we heard all the rumbling and the thunder and all the smack. A big ball of smoke comes up and we kind of figured it wasn’t good.

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An antique military plane carrying 13 people crashed while trying to land at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut.CreditCredit...Aaron Katzman

Azi Paybarah and

Ever since they were used for bombing missions during World War II, B-17 aircraft have had legions of loyal fans. And as time passes, the chance to fly aboard one of these aircraft has become more rare.

So when a nonprofit organization offered history and plane buffs a chance to do just that, they leapt at the chance.

On Wednesday morning, 10 passengers and three crew members boarded a vintage B-17G bomber at Bradley International Airport near Hartford.

But moments after takeoff, something went horribly wrong.

About five minutes after the plane took off, its crew contacted the tower and reported an issue, said Jennifer Homendy, a National Transportation Safety Board member.

The aircraft circled back to the runway and attempted to land, Ms. Homendy said. As it descended, it struck equipment on the ground, veered off-course and crashed into a de-icing facility. Afterward, the bright morning sky became engulfed in towering flames and a column of dark smoke.

Seven people were killed; nine others — including a firefighter and an airport employee on the ground — were treated for injuries, according to state and hospital officials.

Officials have not identified any of the victims but have said that none of them were children. On Wednesday, it was believed that two firefighters from Simsbury, Conn., were among those killed. But on Thursday morning, the Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company confirmed the firefighters survived and were recovering.

Some of the survivors were still in critical condition as of Wednesday night, officials said. One of the injured passengers was a member of the Connecticut Air National Guard, according to a spokesman.

At a news conference in Hartford on Wednesday afternoon, Ned Lamont, the state’s governor, described the victims as “husbands and wives and brothers and sisters and children, and all members of our Connecticut family.”

He appeared to choke up briefly when he promised to give the victims’ families “the best information we can as soon as we can in an honest way.”

Ms. Homendy said the safety board would not likely determine the cause of the crash “for some time.” Investigators will be looking at the plane’s maintenance records, fueling history and flight hours, she said.

Eyewitnesses said the plane appeared in trouble moments after it lifted off the ground. Brian Hamer, a witness at the airport, told a local television station, Fox 61, that one of the plane’s engines sounded like it had lost power. Then the aircraft began to “sputter and smoke” and “made a very, very wide turn” before crashing.

Another man at the airport also told the station that the aircraft sounded like it was in trouble before it crashed.

“The engines were definitely struggling,” the witness told Fox 61. “Normally when an engine is running smoothly, it sounds good. This was catching and skipping and misfiring.” The plane, according to the witness, “was very low.”

In audio transmissions recorded on LiveATC.net, the pilot told controllers that he was having issues with one of the plane’s engines.

The aircraft, a Flying Fortress bomber manufactured in 1944, belonged to a nonprofit aviation foundation based in Massachusetts, according to F.A.A. records.

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The plane, a vintage B-17 bomber, crashed into a building at the airport.Credit...Jessica Hill/Associated Press

The organization, the Collings Foundation, promotes “living history” events. Founded in 1979, it focuses on “transportation-related events” and in the mid-1980s expanded to include “aviation-related events” like air shows, according to the group’s website. Since 1989, the foundation has focused on the “Wings of Freedom Tour” featuring World War II aircraft.

“The aircraft loss is a great letdown and if there is injury and loss of life, it’s a terrible thing,” said John Grier, an aircraft maintenance worker at the airport. “That B-17 has been in service for many, many years.’’

The Collings Foundation said its “flight team is fully cooperating with officials to determine the cause of the crash of the B-17 Flying Fortress.’’

Six of the people injured in the crash were treated at Hartford Hospital, three of them had life-threatening injuries, according to Dr. Jonathan Gates, chief of trauma at the hospital.

Two patients were to be transferred to the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital.

One of those injured in the crash was a member of the Connecticut Air National Guard, according to the guard.

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Built in the 1930s and early 1940s by Boeing, the planes, which have four engines, lack the electronics of modern airplanes.Credit...Mike Orazzi/The Bristol Press, via Associated Press

The B-17s were instrumental in winning the air war in World War II, according to Dick Knapinski, a spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association, a group of aviation enthusiasts which owns and flies its own B-17.

“The ability to fly distances to Nazi Germany and complete the bombing runs and knock out infrastructure was a key element in turning the tide of the war,” he said. “It has a special place in military history.”

History and aviation enthusiasts have found that history appealing. But in order for them to fly, the aircraft have to meet certain standards.

Organizations that restore and fly vintage aircraft must meet federal standards for airworthiness, maintenance practices and certification and training of pilots.

Flights in historic aircraft like the B-17 are not like commercial airline flights. In many cases the organizations that operate these planes work under rules that apply to general aviation: They are not allowed to sell tickets for flights so they solicit donations instead, a distinction that may be part of the investigation into Wednesday’s accident.

“Common sense should tell anybody that gets on an airplane that’s been restored from the ground up that it’s not the same as getting on an airliner,” said Mark Dombroff, an aviation lawyer who once worked for the F.A.A. “There’s an obvious difference between an Airbus and a Boeing and getting on a bomber.”

Buddy Cooksey, a pilot in Fort Worth, who has been flying the B-17 bomber for more than 30 years, called it “one of the toughest and most reliable” airplanes. “Crashing them is a very rare event,” he said.

The most recent accident that’s listed in the National Transportation Safety Board database involving a B-17 in which passengers were injured occurred in June 2011. A Flying Fortress owned by the Liberty Foundation was moving to Indianapolis when a fire erupted on one of the engines. One of the seven people on board was injured during an emergency landing. The plane was destroyed.

Built in the 1930s and early 1940s by Boeing, the planes, which have four engines, lack the electronics of modern airplanes. So flying them, Mr. Cooksey said, “takes a little more muscle power to get the same results.’’

But he said that in nearly 900 hours of flying them, he had encountered only minor mechanical problems.

Kathy A. Parker, a self-described “war bird” and “history buff” saw a B-17 aircraft up close, at a recent air show in Nashua, N.H. “They’re the closest thing to time travel to me,” said Ms. Parker, 48. “It’s one of the last real ways to touch history.”

The challenge, Ms. Parker said, is the dwindling fan base to keep the aircraft in functional condition.

“My observation is there are fewer and fewer people taking up the labor of love of maintaining them,” Ms. Parker said. “It may be better suited as museum pieces because they’re just going to keep getting older.”

But, she added, “I would love to keep seeing them fly for the next hundred years.”

Patrick McGeehan, Neil Vigdor, Cheryl Weinstock and Michael Gold contributed reporting. Alain Delaqueriere contributed research.

Azi Paybarah writes the New York Today column. He was raised in Queens, educated in Albany and lives in Manhattan. He worked at The Queens Tribune, The New York Sun, Politico New York and elsewhere before joining The Times. Email him or follow him on Twitter. More about Azi Paybarah

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 26 of the New York edition with the headline: World War II-Era B-17 Bomber Crashes Near Hartford, Killing Seven. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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