Fatal US B-52 bomber crash happened at more than 1,500m per minute

Eight people were killed when a B-52 bomber crashed at a US Air Force base in California, according to officials who reviewed video of the incident.

The aircraft made a sharp right and then nearly a 180-degree turn before plunging to the ground at more than a kilometre per minute, tracking data showed.

The airfield remains closed after fires flared up at the crash site, while crews work to make it safe for search and recovery teams to enter.

A B-52 bomber aircraft that crashed at a US Air Force base in California, killing eight people aboard, made a sharp right and then nearly completed a 180-degree turn before plunging to the ground at more than a kilometre per minute, according to initial tracking data.

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress was taking part in a routine mission on Monday, local time, as part of an overall program to keep the long-running aircraft flying for decades to come.

It was not yet clear what caused the plane to crash shortly after take-off, and officials at the Edwards Air Force Base said it could take up to six months to complete the investigation.

Eight people aboard a B-52 bomber aircraft were killed in the fiery crash. (Reuters: Supplied)

The airfield remained closed on Tuesday while crews worked to make the crash site safe for search and recovery teams to enter, after fires flared up overnight, Mike Paoli, a spokesperson for the 412 Test Wing at Edwards, said.

Flight tracking data that was available on Tuesday showed the bomber turning to the north-east after taking off and nearly completing a sharp turn before crashing on another runway, according to AirNav Systems.

The data, which comes from a system called multilateration, does not show precise altitude and speed information, but it does show the plane fell to earth at a rate of descent of 1,541 metres per minute; nearly 10 times as fast as a plane normally descends when preparing to land.

The aircraft was supporting a "radar modernisation program," Colonel James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412 Test Wing, said on Monday.

In 2025, Boeing sent a B-52 to the base with a modernised radar system that was key to keeping the bomber in the air until at least 2050, nearly a century after it first entered service.

A test team planned to conduct ground and flight test activities on the aircraft throughout 2026 to feed a production decision, the Air Force said in a 2025 news release.

The airfield remains closed and all inbound aircraft are being diverted. (Reuters: Supplied)

The modern Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system replaced the aircraft's ant