7 Killed In Flying Fortress Crash: Aircraft Graced Livermore

LIVERMORE, CA — Bay Area plane buffs who cherished close-ups of the B-17 Flying Fortress during the annual Wings of Freedom tour in Livermore are mourning this week. The WWII vintage plane crashed Wednesday at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., killing seven of the 13 people onboard.

During an emergency landing, the aircraft crashed into a de-icing facility just before 10 a.m. and erupted into flames, according to reports.

The aircraft was operated by a flight team from the nonprofit Collings Foundation and was at Bradley International Airport as part of the Wings of Freedom tour. The foundation released a statement following the tragedy:

"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 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.

"In the wake of a tragic accident involving our B-17, the Collings Foundation is currently suspending its flight operations and the Wings of Freedom Tour for the remainder of the 2019 season."

Patch reached out to the Collings Foundation on Friday. A spokesman for the nonprofit said the crashed aircraft was in Livermore nearly every year for the Wings of Freedom tour. It was last here in May.

On Thursday, local officials in Connecticut held a news conference and released the names of those killed in the crash:

• Ernest McCauley, 75 - Pilot, Long Beach, Calif.
• Michael Foster, 71 - Copilot, Jacksonville, Fla.
• David Broderick, 56 - passenger, West Springfield, Mass.
• Gary Mazzone, 66, - passenger, Broad Brook, Conn.
• James Roberts, 48 - passenger, Ludlow, Mass.
• Robert Riddell, 59 - passenger, East Granby, Conn.
• Robert Rubner, 64 - passenger, Tolland, Conn.

One other crew member and five other passengers were injured in the crash. The Collings Foundation spokesman could not confirm whether those killed or injured had ever participated in the Livermore event. According to a report in The New York Times, however, McCauley had been piloting the aircraft for more than 21 years.

The Flying Fortress was one of only 10 of more than 12,500 remaining in flying condition built to fight overseas in World War II.