The World War II-era single-engine aircraft broke into pieces and caught fire when it hit the ground in a remote area, according to the Kern County Fire Department. The only nearby business is a Frito-Lay plant.

The Kern County Coroner's office confirmed about 5:30 p.m. that the people who died were 68-year-old Alfred Goss of Bakersfield and 54-year-old Steven Ballard of Anchorage, Alaska. They took off from Minter Field in Shafter in Goss' AT-6F plane, built in 1945.

Goss' friend, Eddy Van Fossen, said he knew both men and waved to them as they took off. He said Ballard also had a home in Kern County, even though he worked for FedEx out of Alaska.

Working in a field near the crash site, Emanuel Puga said he saw the plane and thought it might be having trouble, because it made some dips. But, he said he thought the pilot also might have been doing tricks.

Pilot Alfred Goss, of Bakersfield, is seen in this photo taken from his Facebook page.

"It sounded like it was having problems, or something," Puga told Eyewitness News. "But, we thought that was normal. Once we saw it dive here, and it exploded, we knew the guy was already gone."

Close friend and fellow pilot Marc McCaslin was also working about two fields away. McCaslin told Eyewitness News Goss flew over and the two waved at each other.

He saw the plane go by and seconds later he saw it crash. McCaslin immediately rushed over, reached the downed plane in a canal and went in the water hoping to help.

Steven Ballard is seen in this provided photo.

Pilots and friends came out to the scene late in the afternoon to look over the wreckage. Some said they had flown in that same plane at times.

Van Fossen said Goss was an extremely experienced pilot with 30,000 hours of flying time under his belt. The weather was clear in the area, and the cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Federal Aviation Administration investigators got to the scene by mid-afternoon. They spent several hours looking through the debris. A Kern County Sheriff's official told Eyewitness News an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Administration was expected at the scene Thursday.

The photos below show Goss competing during the 2009 National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nev. The photos were taken by Allen Hess and are courtesy of National Championship Air Races.