Reporter-News Archives

Thursday, February 19, 1998

Dyess-based B-1 crashes in Kentucky field

By JIM O'CONNELL and LISA HOFFMAN

Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON -- An Air Force B-1B long-range bomber on a routine training mission crashed into an open field in Western Kentucky Wednesday afternoon. All four crew members survived.

The cause of the crash, shortly before 1 p.m. (CST), was unknown, Air Force officials said. The crew members, from Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, apparently ejected and were being treated for minor lacerations at Crittenden County Hospital in Marion, Ky., said Marion Police Chief Kenneth Winn.

The plane was unarmed but military personnel were rushing to the scene to secure any classified equipment on board, said Major Frank Smolinsky of the Air Force Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

Scott Air Force Base in Illinois is the nearest base to the crash and will be sending a damage control team, Smolinsky said. A separate accident investigation team of officers will immediately be appointed to investigate the cause of the crash, Smolinsky said.

The plane departed from Dyess on a routine long-range training mission and was expected to return there, Smolinksy said.

Until the cause of the crash is known, no special precautions will be ordered for the operation of the rest of the B-1B bombers, and no assessment can be made of the future of the controversial planes, Smolinsky said.

"It's an exceptional airframe, we stand behind it," he said.

The accident marked the eighth B-1B that has crashed since the controversial plane first joined America's fleet in 1985. After Wednesday's crash, the Air Force has 92 of the $280-milliion planes remaining.

The last crash occurred Sept. 19, 1997, when one of the swallow-winged bombers on a training mission crashed in a Montana prairie, killing the four crew members aboard. The aircraft was about 100 miles from its base at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., when it went down.

Investigators later determined the bomber went down when the pilot attempted an unfamiliar maneuver and the plane went into a stall. The plane, which was carrying no weapons at the time, was traveling at nearly 500 mph when it slammed into a ranch near Alzada, Mont.

Born during the Ford administration, the B-1 bomber was conceived as a cutting-edge strategic nuclear bomber designed to penetrate Soviet defenses. Capable of speed over 900 miles per hour, ducking radar and flying across continents without refueling, the B-1s were to replace the trusty but aging B-52 bombers.

But from the start, the Rockwell International-built plane was beset by bugs. Among its woes were cracked landing gear assemblies, fuel leaks, faulty de-icing systems and engine malfunctions. One Lancer crashed when a bird flew into an engine.

The Carter administration killed development plans, but Ronald Reagan resurrected them. After the Soviet Union fell, the B-1B lost its purpose.

Faced with a full inventory of the expensive Lancers, President Bush decided to turn them into conventional combat bombers. So far, more than $1 billion has been spent on the conversion, which equips the planes to carry five new types of non-nuclear weapons, including 1,000-pound cluster bombs. All Lancers are expected to be refitted by about 2001.

Until November 1997, no B-1B had flown on anything but a training mission. Then, the Pentagon deployed two Lancers to the Persian Gulf as part of the buildup of U.S. forces in the ongoing showdown with Iraq. If armed conflict ensues, the B-1B could see its first combat action ever. They are now in Bahrain, awaiting orders.