Bomber Crashes In Texas; One May Have Survived

VALENTINE, Texas - An unarmed Air Force B-1B bomber crashed in a fireball in the mountains of western Texas, and there were reports today that at least one crewman survived.

Four people were aboard the plane from Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene when it went down late yesterday during a training mission, said Capt. Harry Edwards, a Dyess spokesman.

The plane was not carrying weapons, he said.

Terry Thummel, a Department of Public Safety dispatcher in El Paso, said the department received a report that a survivor has been located. She said she had no other information.

A helicopter flew from Fort Bliss this morning to pick up a survivor, said a spokeswoman at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. "It hasn't gotten here yet," said Bob Guidry, public-affairs officer at the hospital.

Edwards would not comment on the possibility of survivors.

A team from the Dyess disaster control group was en route to the scene today, a base spokesman said. The crash site, about 3 miles north of Valentine, could be seen today near the top of a mountain range between the Capote and Needle ridges that rise from the desert about 150 miles southeast of El Paso. As dawn broke, wisps of smoke still rose from the wreckage.