Air Force to identify victims in fatal B-52 bomber crash

On Wednesday, the Air Force is expected to officially identify all eight crew members who were killed when a B-52 bomber crashed at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California earlier this week. The aircraft went down around 11:20 a.m. Monday, moments after departing for a routine test mission supporting the Radar Modernization Program. The flight was operated by a joint aircrew of active-duty Airmen, government civilians and contractors on behalf of the 419th Flight Test Squadron, Global Power Bombers Combined Test Force. Lauren Smith, the wife of Jeromy Smith, a flight test engineer for the U.S. Air Force who died in the crash, told KTLA the plane was experiencing issues before Monday’s flight. “My husband told me on Friday that they were supposed to fly on Friday and that something was wrong with the plane,” Smith said. “I don’t know what was wrong, but the flight kept getting pushed back. He was supposed to fly in the morning, and then it got pushed back to noon, and then it got pushed back to 2 o’clock. Then they said they were going to have to fix whatever was wrong with it and that they would fly when it was done.” Smith was a contractor for the Department of Defense who worked as a flight test engineer for nearly 10 years. Jeromy and Lauren met at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and were married for five years. A GoFundMe page set up for Lauren shows the couple had two young boys, whom she must now raise on her own. The investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing, but officials say it could take up to six months to reach initial conclusions. The airfield will remain closed until at least Thursday as cleanup continues, with flight test operations expected to resume early next week.