LOS ANGELES: All eight crew members were killed when a US air force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed on takeoff in California’s Mojave desert on Monday (partly reported in Tuesday issue).

The eight-engine, jet-powered aircraft, built to carry a wide array of nuclear and conventional bombs, was on a routine test mission when it crashed on the runway at Edwards air force base just after leaving the ground, Colonel James Hayes said at a press conference hours later.

A towering pall of black smoke billowing from the crash site was visible for miles immediately after the accident.

He said the “mixed crew” aboard the aircraft consisted of government civilians, government contractors and uniformed military personnel.

Aerospace giant Boeing, which designed and built the plane, said two of its employees were among the dead.

The flight was intended to support a radar modernisation programme, Colonel Hayes told reporters.

The cause of the crash was unknown and under investigation, he added.

Air force officials did not name the victims, saying they were still in the process of notifying their next of kin.

Aerial video footage of the crash scene, about 160km north of Los Angeles, showed a charred, smouldering patch of the desert floor larger than a football field as an emergency vehicle was seen driving along the site’s perimeter.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026