US Air Force Bomber Jet Crashes at Ellsworth Base, Crew Survives

A U.S. Air Force Rockwell B-1B Lancer long-distance bomber flies during a demonstration at the ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin, Germany on May 28, 2008. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A U.S. Air Force bomber jet from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota crashed during a training mission on Jan. 4, officials have confirmed.

The B-1 Lancer bomber crashed at approximately 5:50 p.m. while attempting to land at the base, the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth said in a statement.

All four of its crew members onboard were able to eject safely. Officials did not say if any injuries were reported.

The cause of the incident is unknown, and officials did not provide further details.

However, visibility was poor with freezing temperatures and low clouds at the time of the crash, according to automated weather reporting equipment recording airfield conditions.

A board of Air Force officers will be investigating the accident, officials said.

Multiple local fire departments responded to the crash scene following reports of a small fire, according to The New York Post.

The Ellsworth Air Force has been closed to flight operations in the wake of the crash, according to reports citing a Notice to Airmen/Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) advisory.

The 28th Bomb Wing, located at Ellsworth Air Force Base, is one of two bases responsible for the operation and maintenance of the B-1B Lancer.

The wing is aligned under Air Force Global Strike Command.

The B-1 is a highly versatile supersonic bomber that serves as “the backbone of America’s long-range bomber force,” and can “rapidly deliver massive quantities of precision and non-precision weapons against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time,” according to the U.S. Air Force.

It first came into service in the 1980s and has been used to support the U.S. bomber presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. It does not carry nuclear weapons.

The bomber jet’s “blended wing/body configuration, variable-geometry wings, and turbofan afterburning engines combine to provide long-range, maneuverability, and high speed while enhancing survivability,” according to the Air Force.

While 100 B-1 Lancer bombers were originally built, less than 60 remain in service at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Osprey Crash

The latest incident comes shortly after the U.S. Air Force recovered the black box from the CV-22B Osprey crash off the coast of Japan in November that claimed the lives of eight airmen.

Officials said Thursday that the black box will be transported to laboratories for data retrieval and an analysis of the data will likely take several weeks.

The Osprey crashed off the shore of Yakushima, Japan, during a training mission on Nov. 29, 2023.

According to officials, the aircraft departed Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi prefecture. However, shortly after takeoff, the crew of the Osprey contacted the Coast Guard requesting an emergency landing at the Yakushima airport

Following the emergency call, the aircraft then disappeared from the radar.

All eight on board were subsequently confirmed dead, although Air Force officials have so far only been able to recover the remains of only seven of the airmen.

The crash has resulted in the grounding of all Osprey aircraft not engaged in emergency recovery operations, pending a probe into the safety of the aircraft.

Officials said last month that preliminary information suggests that a “potential materiel failure” was behind the crash, although they stressed that the “underlying cause of the failure is unknown at this time.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.