18/06/2026
US Releases Identities of 8 Dead on B-52
The US Air Force has released the identities of the eight crew members on board the B-52 bomber that crashed in California.
On June 17, the US Air Force released the identities of the eight crew members on board the B-52 bomber that crashed near Edwards Air Force Base (California), according to CNN.
Those on board included:
Colonel Gregory Watson, 53, from Shreveport, Louisiana. At the time of the accident, he was working for Boeing as a civilian employee. He was also a US Air Force Reserve, serving as a weapons systems officer with the 10th Air Force, Joint Naval Reserve Fort Worth, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel Estrella, 40. He is a weapons systems officer with the U.S. Air Force's Combat Test and Evaluation Center, Unit 5 at Edwards Air Force Base.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Miles Middleton, 50, a resident of Tehachapi, California, is a pilot who worked for Boeing.
Major Alexander Davis, 34, weapons systems officer with the 419th Flight Test Squadron at Lancaster, California.
Major Robert Dee, 40, pilot with the 419th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base.
Major Brad Hovey, 35, pilot with the 419th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base.
Mr. Christopher Rischar, 41, flight test engineer, employee of the defense contractor JT4.
Mr. Jeromy Smith, 32, flight test engineer with the 419th Flight Test Squadron at Rosamond, California.
“These Air Force service members were not just colleagues. They were friends, mentors, teammates, and cherished members of the Edwards family and the U.S. Air Force,” Colonel Thomas Tauer, commander of the 412th Test Wing, told staff and families of the victims at Edwards Air Force Base on June 17.
Boeing also issued a statement after the identities of the crew members were released.
“The passing of Miles and Greg is a tremendous loss to our teams, and we are with their families, loved ones, and all those who worked with them,” the statement said.
Regarding the investigation, officials said the investigation into the crash of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber during a test flight on June 15 could take up to six months to complete.
According to flight tracking data from AirNav Systems, after takeoff, the bomber made a sharp right turn and then a nearly 180-degree turn before descending at a speed of approximately 1,541 meters per minute to crash onto another runway. This rate of descent is almost 10 times faster than the normal rate of descent for an aircraft preparing to land.
Mike Paoli, spokesman for the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, said that teams are securing the crash site to allow search and recovery forces access, after fires from the crash reignited overnight.
According to The Guardian, the fact that the B-52 crashed just minutes after takeoff, before reaching a high altitude or flying a significant distance, has led aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti to suspect a controllable malfunction.
Mr. Guzzetti suggested that the control system could have been incorrectly installed or calibrated after maintenance, or that the aircraft experienced a serious engine malfunction, or that a piece of equipment under testing had malfunctioned.
“I think this is definitely a controllability issue. Whether the cause is related to engine failure, a flight control system malfunction, or a problem with a new piece of testing equipment, I cannot say for sure yet,” Mr. Guzzetti said.
