{"id":362432,"date":"2026-06-16T05:57:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/362432\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T05:57:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:57:39","slug":"8-people-dead-after-b-52-bomber-crashes-at-us-military-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/362432\/","title":{"rendered":"8 people dead after B-52 bomber crashes at US military base"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eight people were killed after\u00a0a\u00a0<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/us-flies-nuclear-capable-bomber-over-south-korea\/a-18969562\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US Air Force B-52 bomber<\/a> crashed\u00a0after takeoff at Edwards Air Force base in California.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We lost eight great Americans,&#8221; James Hayes, the deputy commander at Edwards Air Force base, said at a news conference.<\/p>\n<p>Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of the aircraft that went down around 11:20 a.m. local time (18:20 GMT), the base said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-format=\"MASTER_LANDSCAPE\" data-id=\"77569084\" data-url=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/77569084_${formatId}.jpg\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" alt=\"A photo of the B-52 bomber crash in California on June 15\" style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; max-height: 0;\"\/>The air base is in a remote area north of Los AngelesImage: KABC\/AP Photo\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n<p>The military base has launched\u00a0an interim safety board to gather initial facts\u00a0that then lead to a safety investigation. The entire process could take up to six months, Hayes said.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency crews respond immediately after aircraft goes down<\/p>\n<p>Emergency crews responded immediately after the crash but the air base said in an earlier social media post that initial indications were that &#8220;the crash was not survivable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The entire airfield was closed and all inbound\u00a0flights were diverted after the aircraft went down at the base.<\/p>\n<p>The crew onboard were engaged in routine test mission before the disaster.<\/p>\n<p>The cause of the crash is under investigation.<\/p>\n<p><img data-format=\"MASTER_LANDSCAPE\" data-id=\"77569058\" data-url=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/77569058_${formatId}.jpg\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" alt=\"A B-52 bomber\" style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; max-height: 0;\"\/>The US Air Force has been flying B-52 bombers for more than 70 yearsImage: Henry Nicholls\/AFP<\/p>\n<p>Edwards Air Force Base\u00a0is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Los Angeles and is home to a large portion of the Air Force&#8217;s aircraft&#8217;s secretive test\u00a0efforts.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s a B-52 bomber?<\/p>\n<p>The aircraft that went down was a<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/boeing\/t-69528010\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Boeing<\/a> B-52 bomber,\u00a0officially known as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.<\/p>\n<p>The jets, typically crewed by five people, entered service in 1995.<\/p>\n<p>The B-52 was engineered to provide the US with a significant advantage in strategic nuclear capabilities during the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/cold-war\/t-38208135\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cold War<\/a>, particularly against the Soviet Union, which at the time did not possess an intercontinental bomber.<\/p>\n<p>Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, it has been used in conflicts ranging from the Vietnam War to recent operations in the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/iran-war\/t-76168615\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Edited by: Wesley Dockery<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t let the algorithm hide the news. If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dw.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">select us as your Preferred Source on Google<\/a>, so you&#8217;ll always see our verified news first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight people were killed after\u00a0a\u00a0US Air Force B-52 bomber crashed\u00a0after takeoff at Edwards Air Force base in California.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-362432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}