Incident
On December 12, 1957, at approximately 4:00 p.m., a U.S. Air Force B-52D Stratofortress (tail number 56-0597) assigned to the 92nd Bombardment Wing began its takeoff from Runway 5 at Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) for a routine training mission. Eyewitnesses reported that as the aircraft left the runway, it climbed abnormally steeply to about 2,000 feet. Fire then erupted from the jet engines, and pieces of metal detached from the engine cowlings and mounts. The bomber stalled, executed an abrupt right wingover, and appeared to level off, but at approximately 500 feet it nosedived and crashed in a stubbled wheat field one mile west of the base. The impact caused jet fuel to explode, sending a large column of smoke into the sky and attracting numerous onlookers.
Casualties
Of the nine occupants, eight were killed: Major Ralph Romaine Alworth, Captain Douglas Earl Gray, First Lieutenant James Dennis Mann, Colonel Clarence Arthur Neely, Captain Thomas N. Peebles, Captain Douglas Franklin Schwartz, Captain Herbert Henry Spiller Jr., and First Lieutenant Jack Joseph Vainisi. One crew member, T/Sgt Gene I. Graye, was injured.
Investigation
The official investigation concluded that the loss of control likely resulted from incorrect wiring of the stabilizer trim switch.