A B-52 on a routine training mission lost the wing-tip gear door that fell off and landed in a garden in Brailes in Warwickshire.
One of the four U.S. B-52 bombers deployed to RAF Fairford, UK, as part of Bomber Task Force Europe 20-1 since Oct. 10, 2019, lost a part that landed in a garden in Brailes, Warwickshire, on Oct. 29, the BBC reported.
According to the British media outlet, the police posted a picture of the aircraft part and reported that a resident, heard a ‘loud thud’ in her garden before discovering the object outside. The object was later identified as a wing-tip gear door and was retrieved by 2nd Bomb Wing personnel, in partnership with the UK Ministry of Defense Police.
Fortunately, no one was injured.
The aircraft was involved in a routine training mission even though it’s not clear whether it lost the part during departure or on arrival to Fairford, where four B-52 assigned to the 96th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Wing from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, are currently based.
The mishap is already under investigation.
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Even though it’s not normal nor routine, military (as well as civil) aircraft, even those much younger than the +60-year old Buffs, may lose parts while flying: we have reported about a MiG-35 that lost a panel during MAKS on Aug. 30, 2019; same happened to an F-16 that lost an access panel in flight during the Friday, August 2 practice session for the 2019 Thunder Over Michigan airshow at Willow Run Airport in Romulus, Michigan; an A-10 that lost three practice bombs after a birdstrike in July 2019; an F-35 lost a panel near Okinawa in 2017; a U.S. Air Force KC-10 Extender belonging to the 60th Air Mobility Wing lost its flying boom that landed in hay-field on Nov. 1, 2016; etc. There are aircraft which lost targeting pods, others losing fuel tanks or even live missiles (as happened to an Italian F-104 during an Alert Scramble many years ago). It has always happened for some reason or another one. Fortunately, no one was hurt in most of these incidents.
