While on its way to Eglin AFB, Florida, the aircraft made a brief stop in El Paso, Texas. Immediately after takeoff from El Paso Municipal Airport on 25 March 1956, the aircraft stalled and crashed. The XB-51 crashed through the airport boundary fence, tumbled through sand dunes, and burned. It had logged approximately 435 flight hours.

The airplane's crew chief, SSgt. Wilbur R. Savage, was killed instantly. The pilot, Maj. James Rudolph, was severely burned and died from his injuries a few days later.