A runway at Love Field was closed briefly Thursday morning after a freak incident in which a piece of debris entered the cockpit of a World War II bomber, hit the co-pilot in the hand, and exited the aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The B-24 – the last of its kind still flying -- suffered damage to its propeller and fuselage and was undergoing repairs.
The pilot was not seriously injured and aborted the takeoff without incident, said FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford.
The incident happened Tuesday about 1:30 p.m.
On Thursday, airport crews located a “failed concrete patch” on the same runway, 13R, and was making emergency repairs. The airport remained open.
“It was a close call but everything seems to be safe and sound,” said Hunter Chaney, spokesman for the Collings Foundation, which owns the plane. “We are just lucky it wasn’t a larger piece of concrete.”
Chaney said the pilot was fine and the damage to the plane was mostly "cosmetic."
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The plane, known as the Liberator Witchcraft, was made in Fort Worth 74 years ago and is the only one of its kind still in existence, Chaney said.
It was an icon of World War II with more than 18,000 manufactured.
The plane involved in the Love Field incident was abandoned by the Royal Air Force in India at the end of the war, Chaney said.
The plane was in Dallas as part of the National Wings of Freedom Tour, an interactive flying memorial.
Corbin Rubinson, a spokesman for the city of Dallas, which owns Love Field, said Thursday afternoon both runways were open.
