A wing tip gear door from a B-52 Stratofortress bomber fell off during a training mission over Brailes, England, Oct. 23 and landed in a local woman’s garden, the Air Force confirmed.
Fortunately, no one was hurt. The Gloucestershire Live website reported Tuesday that the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, called it a “miracle” that she was not injured and her house was not damaged when the part fell at about 5:30 p.m. that day.
The Air Force has now launched a safety investigation to find out what caused the mishap, said Master Sgt. Renae Pittman, a spokeswoman for U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa.
The B-52 is part of the bomber task force, from the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, which deployed to RAF Fairford in England Oct. 10.
The local Shipston on Stour Police Safer Neighbourhood Team posted an image of the part on their Facebook page.
The fallen gear door was retrieved by personnel from the 2nd Bomb Wing, alongside police from the U.K. Ministry of Defence, Pittman said.
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Glouchestershire Live reported that the woman called the police after she heard a “loud thud” outside her home, in the tiny village of Brailes in Warwickshire, about 35 miles north of Fairford. She found a large piece of yellow metal in her front garden.
“All I heard was this strange loud noise, kind of an unusual bump sort of sound,” the woman said, according to Glouchestershire Live. ""We are on a flight path here, but you never expect something like this to happen. It’s a miracle that it landed in the garden and not on me in the house."
In 2017, an engine dropped out of a B-52 on a training flight out of Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, but landed in an unpopulated area.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
