The Nation - News from Sept. 30, 1987

The Air Force launched an investigation into the fiery crash of a low-flying B-1B bomber that was apparently knocked out of the skies by birds sucked into its engines. The $284-million bomber apparently went down in the eastern Colorado prairie after it hit a flock of birds during a practice bombing run, disabling two engines. Three of the crewmen were killed, but three others managed to parachute to safety. Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist Chuck Loeffler said he and other biologists theorized the bomber may have struck a flock of Swainson’s hawks, a “good-size migrating hawk that travels in flocks of 12 to 100 birds.”