A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed on Monday (June 15) shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California's Mojave Desert, and all eight crew members aboard were presumed to have been killed, the base said. The eight-engine, jet-powered aircraft, built to carry nuclear and conventional bombs, was on a routine test mission when it went down, Edwards said in a statement about four hours after the crash. Aerial video footage of the crash scene, about 100 miles (161 km) north of Los Angeles, showed a charred, smoldering patch of the desert floor roughly the size of a football field as an emergency vehicle was seen driving along the site's perimeter.

EDWARDS, California: A B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff Monday morning at a US Air Force base in California’s Mojave desert, officials said. Emergency crews were…

Eight people were killed after a US Air Force B-52 bomber crashed shortly after take-off from Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert on Monday.