Steve Dearborn was supposed to be on the vintage World war II era B-17 that crashed at Bradley Airport and was there to witness the horrific tragedy. He said he believes not getting a seat on that aircraft saved his life.
"That fireball went up. I never saw nothing like it. It's horrible. I says, ‘the plane blew up’ and everybody, they started hugging each other and everything," Dearborn, of East Windsor, said.
Dearborn said he was supposed to be on the flight, but it was already full when he got to the airport, so he was told to wait until the next flight. The next flight never happened.
The plane was at Bradley Airport for the "Wings of Freedom Tour" sponsored by the Collings Foundation. The B-17 bomber was known at one point as the "Flying Fortress" or the 909. The foundation has canceled the last day of the event.
After the crash, the Collings Foundation canceled the last day of the tour.
“I know I'll never go up in one of those planes. I won’t go up in them. To me that was such a near death thing here that. I'm kinda shaking a little right now here talking to you," he said.
Seven people were killed in that plane crash on Wednesday morning and eight others were injured.
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Dearborn said he'll never forget what he witnessed.
Several agencies are investigating and the National Transportation Safety Board sent a crew of 10 to Connecticut to look into what caused the crash.
