US Air Force B52 bomber burns fuel over Worcestershire as it prepares for emergency landing at RAF Fairford after engine failure over the Mediterranean
A US Air Force B52 bomber is preparing for an emergency landing at RAF Fairford after burning fuel over Worcestershire following engine failure over the Mediterranean.
It is unclear where the bomber took off but it is thought to have completed a mission in the Mediterranean before suffering an engine failure.
The plane is now burning fuel over the UK in order to make a landing at RAF Fairford by 6pm.
The bomber’s flight path shows the jet is still circling between Worcester and Gloucestershire at an altitude of about 14,000ft, according to flight data by ADS-B Exchange.
The US Air Force’s B52 bomber is heading to RAF Fairford after dumping fuel over Worcestershire following an engine failure
It is unclear if the jet has bombs onboard.
A source told MailOnline that the bomber suffered a failure with one of its eight engines.
The long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber has been operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s.
The B-52H with a weapons payload of more than 70,000lb is capable of carrying the most diverse range of weapons of any combat aircraft.
Fully loaded, the B-52 can carry 20 of the weapons, but like the plane that launches them, the weapons are on the older side, having been produced in the early to mid-1980s.