Eight people killed when a B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff on a test mission from Edwards Air Force base in California have been identified.

Those onboard when the plane went down at the Mojave Desert base about 100 miles north of Los Angeles included members of the military, government civilians and government contractors, officials said.

The military released the names of those killed on Wednesday.

Victims of the June 15, 2026 B-52 Stratofortress crash at Edwards Air Force Base.

Col. (select) Gregory Watson, 53, weapon systems officer: Boeing (Air Force reservist, assigned 10th Air Force, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas), Shreveport, Louisiana

Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40, weapon systems officer: Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Detachment 5, Edwards AFB

Miles Middleton, 50, pilot and Boeing employee from Tehachapi: A U.S. Air Force veteran who held a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University and a master’s degree in aero science technology from the University of Tennessee Space Institute, according to his family. He served in Afghanistan and received several accolades during his time as a service member. Middleton is survived by wife Pamela Helfrich, their 17-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son.

Maj. Alexander Davis, 34, weapon systems officer: 419th Flight Test Squadron, Lancaster

Maj. Robert Dee, 40, pilot: 419th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB

Maj. Brad Hovey, 35, pilot: 419th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB

Jeromy Smith, 32, civilian flight test engineer from Rosamond: Lauren Smith said she and her husband recently welcomed their second child. The couple’s fourth wedding anniversary was Thursday. Smith grew up in Oregon, but had been working at the base for about 10 years. Lauren Smith said her husband loved his job and the B-52 bomber, a workhorse of the U.S. Air Force. He is survived by wife Lauren and the couple’s two young children.

Christopher Rischar, 41, from Lancaster: Flight test engineer, JT4 contractor

The crash was reported at about 11:20 a.m. at the remote base about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. In a news release Monday afternoon, the base said eight people were on the aircraft during a routine test mission.

Col. James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412 test wing at the air force base, said at a press conference that, “We lost eight great Americans” in the crash. The Boeing Company later confirmed two of its employees were among the eight passengers on board who died.

Video showed black smoke rising from an area near the airfield, which was closed.All inbound aircraft were diverted, the base said.

Details about what led to the crash were not immediately available. Determining a cause could take months, authorities said.

The Associated Press, using limited tracking data from AirNav Systems, reported Tuesday that the plane made a sharp right and then nearly completed a 180-degree turn before plunging to the ground at nearly a mile a minute.

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which generally has a crew of five, is a long-range bomber used for a variety of military missions. Capable of subsonic speeds and altitudes of 50,000 feet, the bomber was a workhorse of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and other conflicts. The B-52, which can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, has been the backbone of the United States’ bomber force for decades.

Last year, a regional airliner pilot flying over North Dakota made an unexpected sharp turn to avoid a possible midair collision with a B-52 bomber that was in its flight path.

Edwards Air Force Base, covering 480 square miles in Kern County, is used for research, development and testing of U.S. Air Force aircraft, weapons systems, software and components.

The base was where famed pilot Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound in 1947. It served as the West Coast base for dozens of NASA Space Shuttle landings and a testing ground for the now-retired orbiters. Atlantis was the last shuttle to land at Edwards AFB in 2009.