A B-2 stealth bomber crashed Saturday at an air base on Guam, but both pilots ejected safely and were in good condition, AP quoted the Air Force's sources as saying. It was the first crash of a B-2 bomber, said Capt. Sheila Johnston, a spokeswoman for Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Thick, black smoke could be seen billowing from the wreckage at Andersen Air Force Base, said Jeanne Ward, a resident in the northern village of Yigo who was on the base visiting her husband. Ward said she didn't witness the crash but noticed a rising plume of smoke behind the base's air control tower. She said crowds began to gather as emergency vehicles arrived. «Everybody was on their cell phones, and the first thing everyone wanted to know was did the pilots make it out in time,» she said. A board of officers will investigate the accident. Each B-2 bomber costs about $1.2 billion (¤810 million) to build. All 21 stealth bombers are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, but the Air Force has been rotating several of them through Guam since 2004, along with B-1 and B-52 bombers.
