A rare World War II era plane has crashed at an airport in Connecticut, the United States, killing seven people.

Thirteen people were on board the vintage Boeing B-17, dubbed the Flying Fortress when it went down and burst into flames minutes after taking off outside Hartford on Wednesday.

The B-17 flight departed at 09:45 local time. Five minutes later, it reported having difficulties. The crash occurred near the Bradley International Airport at 09:54.

 Aviations official said the aircraft was civilian-registered and was not being flown by the US military. Experts say only about 10 B-17 planes are still being flown around the US.

Jeremy Kinney, the curator for World War Two aviation at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC says only about 10 B-17 planes are still considered airworthy while another 40 or so exist in museums and private collections.

State Police Commissioner, James Rovella told reporters at a news conference that the remains of the victims of the crash are very difficult to identify.

Angela Fletcher, who lives about a half-mile from the airport told the Hartford Courant newspaper: “It sounded like an 18-wheeler coming down the street and then it got louder.

“Like so loud, it was vibrating things in the house. I looked out the window, and I saw this giant old plane come over the house that was very close.”

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the plane crashed at the end of a runway during an attempted landing.

The aircraft’s nickname comes from a newspaper reporter who dubbed it a ‘flying fortress’ due to all the machine guns which were protruding from its body as well as its reputation for delivering US airmen home safely after missions in England and Italy.

It could carry up to thirteen 50-calibre machines guns and 1,800-3,600 kilograms of bombs.

Introduced in 1936, it was considered state-of-the-art but by the end of World War Two, it had largely been replaced by the B-29 ‘Super Fortress’.