The U-S Air Force says a B-1-B bomber returning from a training mission crashed early last evening while trying to land in bad weather at Ellsworth Air Force Base, but that all four crew members ejected safely..
The Air Force gave no report on the damage to the plane, part of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth.
The 28th says the B-1 Lancer crashed about 5:50 pm with automated weather reporting equipment at the airfield listing conditions as poor visibility with freezing temperatures and low clouds
The B-1 is a conventional supersonic bomber that first came into service in the 1980s and does not carry nuclear weapons.
In the past 2 decades it has been used to support the U-S bomber presence in the Asia-Pacific region and to conduct close-air support missions for U-S operations in Afghanistan.
Although 100 B-1s were originally built, fewer than 60 remain in service at just 2 bases – Ellsworth and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.