Hamilton, a member of the Thunderhawks on his day-off from flying, who was sitting in his car watching. The aircraft traveled for another 200 yards, then hit an unmanned weather radar tower and burst into flames. The KC-135 had just taken off from runway 23, in tandem with the B-52, and was executing a steep left-hand turn when it suddenly rolled from an intended 45-degree bank to almost 90 degrees, stalling the two engines on the left wing. The crew managed to level the aircraft, but it was flying too low and slow to recover. The plane crashed landed in an open area north of the flightline, behind three large hangars, narrowly missing the base’s bombing and refueling squadron offices. It skidded through a security fence, across an access road, and killed Senior Master Sergeant Paul W.

Meyers, and refueling-boom operator, Staff Sergeant Rodney S. Also on board plane were two navigators, Captain James W.

But no one on the ground at Fairchild knew who was actually in command of the aircraft when it took off. Cornett, Captain Christopher Chapman, and Captain Frank B. 60-0361, had three instructor pilots aboard the aircraft: Lieutenant Colonel Michael W. Harris, commander of the 92nd Bombardment Wing at Fairchild AFB had been assigned the responsibility for the Thunderhawks’ creation and development in December 1986. Its purpose was to demonstrate the capabilities of SAC’s large aircraft through a series exciting routines that included a low-level refueling simulation, high-bank turns, and flybys down the runway. Chain Jr., commander-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). on Friday, March 13, 1987, a B-52 Stratofortress and a KC-135 Stratotanker took off from Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) to practice aerial maneuvers for a 15-minute air show scheduled on Sunday, May 17, Fairchild's annual Aerospace Day. The show was to be the debut of a new aerobatics team dubbed the Thunderhawks, the brainchild of General John T.

The tragic event marks the inauspicious introduction of a bomber-tanker demonstration team known briefly as the Thunderhawks, the Strategic Air Command’s answer to the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels aerobatics teams.Īt 1:20 p.m. The accident occurs just after takeoff when the large aircraft accidentally runs through the wake turbulence of the B-52 Stratofortress with which it was practicing, crashes into an open area near the runway, and bursts into flames. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker crashes at Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane County, while rehearsing maneuvers for an air show, killing six airmen and a spectator.

Thunder bomber paper airplane