Dallas: mid-air collision of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and a P-63 Kingcobra

Tragedy at the Dallas, Texas Air Show: Two World War II-era planes have collided in mid-air during an airshow.

This was the last takeoff of the B-17 'Texas Raiders' bomber that crashed in Dallas
Just like old times: P-51 Mustang fighters escorting a B-17 bomber

The planes that have been involved in this serious accident have been a Boeing B-17G-95-DL Flying Fortress bomber, the "Texas Raiders" (with construction number 77235, serial number 44-83872 and civil registration N7227C), and a Bell Bell P-63F-1-BE Kingcobra fighter, serial number 43-11719 and civil registration N6763. Both belong to the Commemorative Air Force, a private entity that maintains historic aircraft in airworthy condition. You can see a video of the collision here, in which the P-63 is seen colliding with the central part of the fuselage of the B-17, breaking its tail and both falling to the ground.

In this other video we can see the collision more clearly:

A third video in which the collision is seen more clearly:

A fourth video, of those I have found so far, is the one that best shows what happened:

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has confirmed the collision between the B-17 and the P-63, pointing out that the number of victims of the accident is still unknown. It seems highly unlikely that any of the occupants of the two crashed planes survived.

The B-17 "Texas Raiders" was built in 1944 and delivered to the United States Army Air Forces on July 12, 1945, being transferred a few days later to the US Navy to serve as a PB-1W maritime patrol aircraft. It was withdrawn from service on August 25, 1955. It was purchased by the Commemorative Air Force for $50,000 in 1967. It was one of only 10 B-17s still airworthy of 46 aircraft preserved to date today.

The P-63F was built in 1943. Only two units of this variant of the P-63 were built. On September 13, 1943, it was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces, flying only 24.1 hours. It was withdrawn from service in 1946 and sold to a private individual. It was purchased by the Commemorative Air Force in 1995. It was one of only 4 P-63s that were still airworthy out of 14 that were still in existence today, and the only P-63F that was preserved..

UPDATED 11:33 PM CET: According to the New York Post, six people would have died as a result of this accident. Rest in peace.

UPDATED 11-13-2022 6:48 p.m.: I have corrected the data of the crashed P-63, since they were incorrect.

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Main photo: Kevin Hong.