{"id":1516255,"date":"2026-06-17T14:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?guid=b53daeaa473d38663ca352df475dab4f"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:29:02","slug":"8-victims-killed-in-b-52-crash-identified-by-edwards-air-force-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1516255","title":{"rendered":"8 victims killed in B-52 crash identified by Edwards Air Force Base"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img src=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/06\/713449caed19c70713ccae0d85b08312.jpg\" alt\/><figcaption>An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base in California, June 15, 2026. (KABC)<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>(LOS ANGELES) -- The eight people killed in an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crash in California have been identified.<\/p><p>The B-52 was on a \"routine test mission\" Monday morning when it crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base and burst into flames, officials said.<\/p><p>Everyone on board was killed: four crew members, one civilian and three contractors, officials said.<\/p><p>The victims were identified by the base as: Col. Gregory Watson, 53, weapon systems officer, Boeing; Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40, weapon systems officer, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center; retired Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, 50, pilot, Boeing; Maj. Alexander Davis, 34, weapon systems officer, 419th Flight Test Squadron; Maj. Robert Dee, 40, pilot, 419th Flight Test Squadron; Maj. Brad Hovey, 35, pilot, 419th Flight Test Squadron; Jeromy Smith, 32, flight test engineer, 419th Flight Test Squadron; and Christopher Rischar, 41, flight test engineer, JT4 contractor.<\/p><p>\"They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates,\" Col. Thomas Tauer, 412th Test Wing Commander, said in a statement on Wednesday. \"Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies are with their families, loved ones and fellow Airmen, Air Force civilians and mission partners affected by this tragedy.\"<\/p><p>Two Boeing employees were among the victims. Boeing said in a statement, \"The loss of Miles and Greg is deeply felt across our teams, and our hearts remain with their families, loved ones and those who worked with them.\"<\/p><p>The cause of the crash is under investigation, a process that will likely take several months, Col. James Hayes, deputy commander for the 412th Test Wing at the base, said Monday.<\/p><p>Test missions take place multiple times a day at Edwards Air Force Base, Hayes said.<\/p><p>Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base in California, June 15, 2026. (KABC)(LOS ANGELES) &#8212; The eight people killed in an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crash in California have been identi&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":1516258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/06\/713449caed19c70713ccae0d85b08312.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1516255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-national-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 17:05:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/06\/713449caed19c70713ccae0d85b08312.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1516255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1516259,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516255\/revisions\/1516259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1516258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1516255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1516255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1516255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}