CHINO, CA. – A tragic incident unfolded at Chino Airport on Saturday when a vintage World War II-era plane crashed shortly after takeoff, resulting in the deaths of two individuals. The aircraft, a twin-engine Lockheed 12A, went down around 12:35 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Emergency crews arrived to find the wreckage off the runway, with no survivors on board. A spokesperson for the Chino Valley Fire District confirmed that no one on the ground was injured in the crash. The identities of the deceased have not yet been released.
The victims were participating in a Father’s Day event at the Yanks Air Museum, a witness revealed. “I had just met one of the pilots earlier before … I took photos with him,” the witness recounted, adding that he was capturing images and video when the tragic event occurred.
The witness described the harrowing moments leading up to the crash. “There was a shrub or a bush in front of me, a tall one, maybe about 10 or 12 feet high, and I had to move around it. The moment I came around it, the plane disappeared behind it,” he said. “But then when I got around it, the plane started listing to the left … very sharp, and started going down.”
He vividly recalled the impact, noting that the plane “took a nose dive and the first part of the plane that hit was the left wing, and that’s where the fuel was, I guess, and what happened was an immediate explosion.”
The cause of the crash remains unknown. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are set to investigate the incident. An NTSB investigator is expected to arrive on Sunday to document the scene and examine the aircraft, which will then be transported to a secure facility for further analysis.