Ellsworth crew safe after ejecting from B-1 following crash
A four-person crew out of Ellsworth Air Force Base is safe after ejecting from their B-1B Lancer Thursday afternoon.
According to a release from Ellsworth Public Affairs, the crash happened around 5:50 p.m. while the B-1B was attempting to land at Ellsworth. The crew was on a training mission at the time. It is unknown if anyone was injured.
Posts in local social media groups indicated the explosions could be heard across the city of Box Elder.
Ellsworth did not release the condition of the plane or the nature of the damage from the crash. More details will be provided as they become available, the release said. The Air Force is investigating the crash.
B-1B Lancers are among the largest long-range bombers in the U.S. Air Force and carry guided and unguided munitions, according to an Air Force fact sheet. The B-1B made its combat debut 25 years ago — in Dec. 1998 — in support of Operation Desert Fox on Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
Ellsworth is one of only two B-1B bases in the world and is home to 3,800 Airmen and DoD civilians and 27 B-1B Lancers. Ellsworth's B-1B unit is known as the 28th Bomb Wing.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, the B-1B Lancer has been involved in 14 incidents since 1984, the most recent being in April 2022, when a plane suffered catastrophic fire and engine failure while undergoing maintenance on the main ramp at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.
The most-recent crash listed involving the 28th Bomb Wing was in Aug. 2013, when a displaced fold-down baffle in the left overwing fairing led to a fuel leak and series of explosions. The crew in that incident were able to safely eject before the aircraft crashed near Broadus, Montana. A report by the Air Force valued the plane at over $317 million at the time.
In Dec. 2001, a B-1 crashed into the Indian Ocean near the island of Diego Garcia. The cause of that crash has never been determined. The pilot and co-pilot were from Ellsworth.
In Sept. 1997, a B-1 from Ellsworth crashed near Alzada, Montana while practicing a typical defensive maneuver. That crash resulted in the death of all four crew members, who were stationed at Ellsworth.
There have been numerous incidents involving the B-1B's operation. The nation's fleet of B-1B Lancers was grounded in 2005 after the nose gear collapsed on a B-1 from Ellsworth. The planes were inspected and put back in service. In Sept. 2005, a plane caught fire after landing at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam after leaking hydraulic fluid came in contact with hot brakes. In Aug. 2007, a B-1B made an emergency landing at Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan after an engine caught fire.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Ellsworth crew safe after ejecting from B-1 following crash
