AF, Navy locate B-52 wreckage near Guam

Air Force Times Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Aug 20, 2008 16:21:21 EDT

Air Force investigators think they know where to find the wreckage of the B-52H Stratofortress that crashed July 21 about 30 miles off the western coast of Guam. All six crew members perished.

A spokesman for Air Combat Command, which is overseeing two crash investigations, said the Air Force is working with the Navy to bring the plane’s wreckage back to the surface. The first step will be to map out the debris field. Then officials will decide which parts can be brought back to the surface.

Even after crashes, large aircraft parts can reveal information about a plane’s flight, such as how well the engines were working and the positions of wing flaps.

The wreckage will not include a flight date recorder. The bomber, like other B-52Hs, was not equipped with a black box to record details of the flight.

The jet, deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, from the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., went down while on a training mission that was to have included a flyover of a Liberation Day celebration on Guam.