WWII-era plane crashes at Bradley Airport in Connecticut; at least 5 reported dead

A WWII-era aircraft crashed at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut Wednesday morning and killed at least five people, a state official said.

The four-engine, propeller-driven B-17 -- dubbed "The Flying Fortress" -- struggled to get into the air and slammed into a maintenance shed at the Connecticut airport as the pilots circled back for a landing, officials and witnesses said. The plane was carrying 10 passengers and three crewmembers. One person on the ground was injured, officials said.

The state official who gave the death toll was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Connecticut Public Safety Commissioner James Rovella said hours after the crash that some of those on board suffered severe burns and “the victims are very difficult to identify.”

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to investigate the cause of the crash.

The plane was a few minutes into the flight when pilots reported a problem and said it was not gaining altitude, officials said. It lost control upon touching down and struck the shed just before 10 a.m.

Brian Hamer, of Norton, Massachusetts, said he was less than a mile away when he saw a B-17, “which you don’t normally see,” fly directly overhead, apparently trying to gain altitude but not succeeding.

One of the engines began to sputter, and smoke came out the back, Hamer said. The plane made a wide turn and headed back toward the airport, he said.

“Then we heard all the rumbling and the thunder, and all the smoke comes up and we kind of figured it wasn’t good,” Hamer said.

Antonio Arreguin said he had parked at a construction site near the airport for breakfast when he heard an explosion. He said he did not see the plane but could feel the heat from the flames, about 250 yards away.

“I see this big ball of orange fire, and I knew something happened,” he said.

Only a few of the roaring Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses are still airworthy. The planes, 74 feet (23 meters) long with a wingspan of 104 feet (32 meters), were used in daylight strategic bombing raids against Germany during World War II _ extremely risky missions that helped break the Nazis’ industrial war machine.

The Collings Foundation said the same plane in Wednesday’s accident also crashed in 1987 at an air show near Pittsburgh, injuring several people. Hit by a severe crosswind as it touched down, the bomber overshot a runway and plunged down a hillside. It was later repaired.

"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 said in a statement on Wednesday. "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."

The B-17 was built in 1945, too late for combat in World War II, according to the foundation.

It served in a rescue squadron and a military air transport service before being subjected to the effects of three nuclear explosions during testing, the foundation said. It was later sold as scrap and eventually was restored. The foundation bought it in 1986.

“This is kind of shocking. It’s a loss to lose a B-17,” said Hamer, whose father served in the Air Force. “I mean, there aren’t very many of those left.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.