Dallas air show collision of two World War II planes ‘really horrific to see’; all aboard feared dead

Two World War II-era military planes collided during an air show in Dallas on Saturday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The shocking mid-air collision happened during the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas show near the Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles from the city’s downtown.

It’s still unclear how many people were aboard the planes, but Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson tweeted around 5:30 p.m. that “no spectators or others on the ground were reported injured.”

Saturday’s flyover was part of a three-day event in honor of Veteran’s Day.

The two historic planes, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra, collided and then crashed to the ground around 1:20 p.m., the FAA said in a statement.

“I just stood there. I was in complete shock and disbelief,” Anthony Montoya, who saw the collision, told The Associated Press.

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“Everybody around was gasping. Everybody was bursting into tears. Everybody was in shock,” Montoya, 27, said.

“It was really horrific to see,” added 37-year-old Aubrey Anne Young, who also witnessed the scene. “I’m still trying to make sense of it.”

Images shared on social media by witnesses show black smoke billowing into the sky.

“Tragic and horrible to witness,” wrote Twitter user Christopher Kratovil, who described the moment of the collision, saying that a “wing just came off as it made a pass over the airfield.”

Early Saturday afternoon, the Dallas Executive Airport tweeted about an “incident” that had taken place during the air show, adding that “fire authorities were responding to the scene.”

“The debris field includes Executive Airport grounds, Highway 67, and a nearby strip mall,” the mayor later wrote on Twitter, adding that the FAA is currently leading the investigation,

With News Wire Services.