A B-52 Stratofortress experienced an in-flight emergency in England during a training mission Friday, the Air Force confirmed.
Erica Vega, a spokeswoman for U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa, confirmed the emergency in an email Tuesday. The bomber — one of six B-52s from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota that traveled to England in August — landed safely at RAF Fairford without the crew suffering any injuries.
The B-52 was repaired, and has now returned to its home station at Minot, Vega said. USAFE did not say on which day the B-52 returned, or describe the emergency aside from saying it was “general.”
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The U.K. news site Gloucestershire Live reported Monday that the bomber experienced its emergency and sent out an alert on Friday, as it returned from a task force mission to the Baltic Sea.
The other five B-52s returned to Minot on Saturday, the news site reported.
The Minot B-52s conducted multiple training missions in Europe after arriving at Fairford, near Gloucestershire, England, on Aug. 22.
On Aug. 28, the Air Force sent six B-52 Stratofortressess to fly over each of NATO’s 30 members in a single day. The mission, titled ‘Allied Sky,’ was intended to demonstrate NATO solidarity, enhance readiness and provide training opportunities, according to a statement by U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany.
Four bombers, taking off from Fairford, passed over all of NATO’s European members, according to the statement. Two B-52s departing from Minot flew over the United States and Canada.
On Sept. 4, three B-52s flew to Ukraine to train with that nation’s fighters.
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.
