Ellsworth colonel relieved of command following $456M crash

B-1 Bomber went down in January amid faulty equipment, adverse weather conditions

An Air Force colonel at Ellsworth Air Force Base has been relieved of his command following a review of an aircraft crash that occurred early this year.

That crash resulted in the loss of a B-1B Lancer Bomber, one of the aircraft in the nation’s strategic bombing fleet. It cost taxpayers more than $456 million. The four-man crew was ejected from the plane, with two airmen injured.

A review of the Jan. 4 crash by the Air Force’s Global Strike Command criticized the airmanship skills within the 34^thBomb Squadron and found that the crash was caused by a “complacent” culture in the organization.

The report resulted in Col. Mark Kimball, the 28^th Operations Group commander at Ellsworth, to be relieved of his command on Friday “due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command, based on the findings of an Accident Investigation Board report into the Jan. 4 crash of a B-1B bomber at Ellsworth,” a press release from Air Force Global Strike Command said. The 34^th Bomb Squadron is part of the 28^th Bomb Wing.

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