ABILENE, Texas--A military refueling jet bound for Hawaii with 19 people aboard crashed in a ball of flames on takeoff yesterday at Dyess Air Force Base, killing at least 17 people, the Air Force said.

Military dependents were among the 12 passengers on board, said Dyess spokesperson Sgt. Al Dostal, but he did not know how many. The plane had a crew of seven, he said.

The plane's crew "never got it off the ground," said witness Vernon Wright. "The first thing I saw was just the mushroom of the smoke."

"I heard the plane as it was coming down," said Skeet Jackson. "Engines were backfiring and missing. It curved off to the left and crashed. And the I saw the ball of smoke and fire go up."

Initial reports fowarded to Air Force commanders at the Pentagon suggested the pilot of the plane experienced some kind of problem during his take-off roll, according to officials who spoke on condition they not be identified.

"It was toward the end of the roll and he apparently had no choice but to press on," said one source.

"But he didn't have the power to get up for some reason," added another.

The wreckage burned for more than an hour after the crash. The plane came to rest tilted at about a 45-degree angle, a charred wing tipped toward the sky.

At least 17 people were killed, said Lt. Col. George Peck, a spokesman at Strategic Air Command Headquarters at Omaha, Neb.

Military officials said they were recording the bodies as they found them.

"Any aircraft accident is bad, but the fact that there are as many fatalities makes [this crash] a particularly terrible one," said Maj. Dennis Pierson at Strategic Air Command headquarters in Omaha, Neb.

The plane, based at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base near Marquette, Mich., was en route from Dyess to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii on a training mission with 19 people on board, said Dyess Airman 1st Class Beverly Foster.

Some of those aboard were from Sawyer, said base spokeperson Sgt. Anita Bailey. "We're trying to get in touch with the families now but it's hard, because there's some confusion," she said. "We're waiting for confirmation that these people have been contacted."

The sources in Washington said the plane was carrying close to a full load of fuel totaling 155,000 pounds, including its own fuel and fuel to transfer during the flight to Hawaii to some F-16 fighters flying across the Pacific.

The Air Force said the KC-135A tanker crashed at 12:10 p.m. near the south end of the Dyess runway, near U.S. Highway 277 about six miles southwest of Abilene.

The maintenance record for the plane, powered by four Pratt & Whitney jet engines, was not yet available, Peck said.

There is no ejection system on the plane, built in 1963, said Peck.

It was the second crash at Dyess in less than three months. A B-1B bomber crashed there Nov. 8. The four-man crew safely bailed out.

The KC-135, dubbed the Stratotanker, is the backbone of the Air Force's refueling fleet.

The aircraft, a military spin-off of the Boeing 707, normally takes a crew of four or five. It can carry a sizeable load of passengers even when carrying fuel.

A KC-135 crashed Oct. 11, 1988, at Wurtsmith Air Base near Oscoda, Mich. That plane, also based at Sawyer, crashed and burst into flames on landing, killing six and injuring 10.