Air Force Names 8 Killed in Fiery B-52 Crash at California’s Edwards Base

Aidin Vaziri
San Francisco Chronicle
(TNS)

The Air Force on Wednesday identified the eight people killed when a B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base.

The crew included pilots, weapon systems officers, flight test engineers, Boeing employees and a contractor working on the military’s bomber modernization programs.

The eight died Monday when the aircraft went down during a routine test mission at the Mojave Desert base, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The Air Force said the crash was “unsurvivable.”

The crash remains under investigation by an Interim Safety Investigation Board. Military officials have said determining the cause could take months.

The victims were identified as Col. Gregory Watson, 53; Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40; retired Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, 50; Maj. Alexander Davis, 34; Maj. Robert Dee, 40; Maj. Brad Hovey, 35; Jeromy Smith, 32; and Christopher Rischar, 41.

“It is with profound sorrow and a heavy heart that I can now share the names of the eight extraordinary Americans we lost during Monday’s B-52 crash,” Col. Thomas Tauer, commander of the 412th Test Wing, told workers and families at Edwards Air Force Base. “They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates.”

Watson, a weapon systems officer for Boeing and an Air Force reservist assigned to 10th Air Force at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in Texas, was from Shreveport, La.

Estrella was a weapon systems officer with the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Detachment 5, at Edwards. Middleton, of Tehachapi, was a retired lieutenant colonel and Boeing pilot.

Davis, of Lancaster, was a weapon systems officer with the 419th Flight Test Squadron. Dee and Hovey were pilots with the same squadron; Dee was assigned to Edwards and Hovey was identified by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds as an Iowa native.

Smith, of Rosamond, was a flight test engineer with the 419th Flight Test Squadron. Rischar, of Lancaster, was a flight test engineer and contractor with JT4.

“These Airmen were more than coworkers. They were friends, mentors, teammates and valued members of our Edwards and Air Force family,” Tauer said in a statement. “Our immediate focus is supporting the families of the teammates we lost and ensuring that all appropriate resources are available to them during this time of unimaginable loss.”

The crew was operating as a Combined Test Force, a team structure that brings together active-duty airmen, government civilians and contractors to work on specific test projects, according to Edwards.

The B-52 crashed shortly after taking off at 11:20 a.m. Monday. Col. James Hayes, a deputy commander at Edwards, said earlier this week that the aircraft crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff.

The test mission supported the Air Force’s B-52 Radar Modernization Program, officials said. The program is intended to help keep the decades-old bomber fleet flying into the 2050s.

The airfield at Edwards remained closed until further notice, the base said Wednesday.

Edwards Air Force Base is one of the nation’s most important flight test centers. The sprawling installation is home to the 412th Test Wing and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, and has long been associated with experimental aircraft, military aviation testing and aerospace development.

The B-52 is one of the Air Force’s oldest and most recognizable aircraft. The long-range heavy bomber entered service in the 1950s and remains a central part of the nation’s bomber force. The Air Force says the B-52H can fly at high subsonic speeds, operate at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and carry conventional or nuclear ordnance.

Monday’s crash was the deadliest involving a B-52 since 1982, when nine crew members died during a test-training flight at Mather Air Force Base near Sacramento.

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