At least five people were killed and nine were injured when a World War II-era plane crashed at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks Wednesday morning shortly after it took off, sources have told The Courant.
The B-17 bomber crashed shortly before 10 a.m., bursting into flames and sending up a large plume of smoke that could be seen for miles. Officials said it crashed into a small building and tanks as it was trying to land.
State public safety Commissioner James Rovella would not say how many were killed. “There are fatalities of which I will not you the number yet," Rovella said at a briefing at the Sheraton at Bradley Wednesday afternoon.
He confirmed there were 10 passengers and three crew members on the bomber. One person on the ground was injured when the airplane struck a small building and tanks holding de-icing fluid.
The airplane was largely consumed by the fire, which was fed by the aircraft’s fuel. The left wing and tail appear to be all that remains of the airplane.
The bomber was owned by the The Collings Foundation, a Massachusetts nonprofit that restores World War II-era aircraft and invites the public to pay to fly in the vintage planes. It was one of five planes, — two fighter planes and three bombers — that were at the airport this week for tours and flights through the Wings of Freedom Tour.
Sources told The Courant that at least five people were killed in the crash and authorities fear the number will go higher. It took hours for rescuers to reach the front of the airplane where the pilot and co-pilot were seated. The search continued well into the afternoon.
“I got a call from the commissioner a while ago and he said, 'It looks pretty bad,” Gov. Ned Lamont said at the briefing. “And coming over here as fast as we can, we saw the fire engines and the responders and the red lights, the last of the smoke plumes ... it was giving us a sense of what we were confronting.”
Lamont said officials would get information to victims’ family members as soon as possible.
“Right now, my heart really goes out to the families who are waiting,” Lamont said. “We’re going to give them the best information we can, as soon as we can in an honest way.”
Three of the victims taken to Hartford Hospital are in critical condition, said Dr. Jonathan Gates, chief of the hospital’s trauma department, in a separate press conference. Two have moderate injuries, and one was described as “minimally injured.”
Family members looking for information are asked to call the Connecticut State Police message center at 860-685-8190.
The plane was one of five at the airport for the Wings of Freedom tour. The airport tweeted at 1:48 p.m. that it had reopened. The Federal Aviation Administration said it put in a ground stop for flights destined for the airport.
Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, said at a press conference that the plane took off about 9:45 a.m. and five minutes later, pilot called the tower and said he was having a problem.
“We did observe that the aircraft was not getting any altitude,” Dillon said.
It crashed into a de-icing facility and tanks containing de-icing chemicals, he said.
Laura Nolan said she saw that something was amiss as the plane came in for a landing. She was driving east on Route 20 at the time, and she saw the World War II-era plane flying unusually low.
“He was treetop level when I saw him,” Nolan said. “And one of the engines wasn’t spinning.”
As the plane passed by, Nolan said, the roar was "thunderous."
And then, the plane crashed.
"I saw the smoke in the rearview mirror," Nolan said. The smoke was dark black, she said.
Nolan, a former Granby paramedic, went to the airport to offer help to the first responders. She was sent away, though, and by about 11 a.m. the other waiting ambulances had been sent away as well, she said.
She saw emergency vehicles from across the region, including from the Ambulance Service of Manchester, Hartford-based American Medical Response, Pratt and Whitney Fire Department and Suffield Fire Department. Nolan said she also saw a Life Star helicopter land near the crash site.
“The amount of people that were flooding in here was ridiculous,” Nolan said.
Angela Fletcher, who lives about a half-mile from the airport, said she saw the plane fly close to her house.
“It sounded like an 18 wheeler coming down the street and then it got louder. Like so loud, it was vibrating things in the house. I looked out the window, and I saw this giant old plane come over the house that was very close, like oddly close to the house..." she said.
"And then you heard like a pop pop. Almost like it was [the] engine. The engine was failing. And then it just continued over. So I didn’t think too much of it. And then I heard all the sirens but it was dangerously close,” Fletcher said.
Nicole Soini, lives off Spring Street, said given how low the plane was flying, "I’m honestly surprised it made it this far before it touched the ground. ... It wasn’t touching the trees, the trees didn’t move, but from a distance ... It looked like it was touching them. It was that low and it just sounded like exactly what [Angela] said a big 18 wheeler and the engine was failing. You could hear it it just sounded crazy. Sounded like it was dying, like the engine was, everything was just shutting off.”
Jim and Judy Guthrie said they didn’t see the plane crash, but their son did. He described it as “a ball of fire” that was rolling sideways.
Of the six patients who were rushed to Hartford Hospital, one was flown by Life Star helicopter, a hospital spokesperson said late Wednesday morning. The other five arrived via ground ambulance.
The Collings Foundation did not provide details on the crash but released a statement: “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were on that flight and we will be forever grateful to the heroic efforts of the first responders at Bradley. The Collings Foundation flight team is fully cooperating with officials to determine the cause of the crash of the B-17 Flying Fortress and will comment further when details become known.”
Numerous fire departments from the area were called to the scene, causing area towns to scramble to line up coverage. At least two dozen emergency vehicles were at the crash site.
At least one victim was being airlifted from the scene at 10:50 a.m.
The B-17G bomber was built in 1944. The Collings Foundation bought it in 1986 and restored it from a firefighting plane to its World War II configuration, painting it in the image of the Nine-O-Nine, a bomber that flew in 140 combat missions in Europe. The plane had a minor crash a year later an airshow outside of Pittsburgh, rolling off the end of a runway and smashing through a chain link fence before it “roared down a 100-foot ravine to a thundering stop,” according to the Collings Foundation website. The plane suffered significant damage and there were injuries but no fatalities.
The plane had another minor incident during a tour stop in Nebraska in 1995 when part of its landing gear would not lock in place. An emergency landing took place at a nearby Iowa airport where the plane touched down on one wheel. As the plane slowed to a halt, its wing dragged for about 700 feet resulting in minor damage, according a newsletter from a World War II veterans group.
The most recent fatal crash of a vintage war plane happened in Fredericksburg, Texas in November 2018. The pilot and a passenger in a P-51D Mustang fighter aircraft were killed when the plane, which had just participated in a flyby, crashed into a nearby parking lot.
Courant staff writers Steve Goode, Nicholas Rondinone, Emily Brindley, Kassi Jackson, Dave Altimari, Dave Owens, Russell Blair and Rebecca Lurye contributed to this report.
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