List of notable incidents and accidents involving military aircraft

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Contents

This is a list of notable incidents and accidents involving military aircraft grouped by the year that the incident or accident occurred.

For more exhaustive lists, see the Aircraft Crash Record Office or the Air Safety Network.

[edit] 1921

[edit] 1933

[edit] 1944

[edit] 1945

[edit] 1951

[edit] 1952

[edit] 1953

[edit] 1955

[edit] 1956

[edit] 1957

  • December 12 – A U.S. Air Force B-52 crashes on takeoff at Fairchild AFB near Spokane, Washington. All crew members are killed except the tail gunner. The incident is caused by trim motors that were hooked up backwards. The aircraft climbed straight up, stalled, fell over backwards and nosed straight down.

[edit] 1958

[edit] 1960

[edit] 1964

[edit] 1965

[edit] 1966

  • January 17 – A B-52 Stratofortress collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling near Palomares, Spain. Seven crewmembers are killed in the crash, and two of the B-52's nuclear weapons rupture, scattering radioactive material over the countryside. One bomb lands intact near the town, and another is lost at sea. It is later recovered intact 5 miles (8 km) offshore.
  • June 8 – An XB-70 Valkyrie crashes following a mid-air collision with an F-104 while the aircraft were in close formation for a photo shoot at the behest of General Electric.

[edit] 1969

[edit] 1974

  • October 14 – An RAF Avro Vulcan explodes over Zabbar, Malta, after striking tail on the runway while trying to land at Luqa Airport. The aircraft was on its way to ditch in the sea at the time of the explosion. One person is killed.

[edit] 1985

[edit] 1988

[edit] 1989

[edit] 1990

[edit] 1991

  • March 21 – Two US Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine planes are lost during a training mission off the San Diego coast. The crash occurs in a storm 60 miles southwest of San Diego at 2:30 a.m., as one plane flies to relieve the other, which had been airborne for seven hours. Search-and-rescue workers discover wreckage from the downed planes but all 27 crewmen are lost. The two aircraft were assigned to Patrol Squadron 50, based at Moffett Naval Air Station in Mountain View.

[edit] 1994

  • April 14 - Two U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters are mistakenly shot down by USAF F-15 Eagle jets while patrolling the no-fly zone over Iraq, killing 26 personnel.
  • June 24 - 'Czar 52', a USAF B-52H Stratofortress crashes at an airshow practice at Fairchild AFB. After having rehearsed the maneuvers profile that in itself was dangerous to fly in a B-52, the aircraft came into land. Due to a KC-135 Stratotanker still being on the runway, the aircraft was required to make a 'go around'. After beginning a 360-degree turn left, the aircraft exceeded 90 degrees angle of bank, stalled and crashed into the ground. The pilot Lt Col Arthur "Bud" Holland was known as a livewire for breaking rules and regulations.

Footage of the crash from YouTube

An in-depth case study by Major Tony Kern of the USAF

[edit] 1995

  • September 22 – A USAF E-3 Sentry crashes shortly after take off when a flock of Canadian snow geese were ingested by its engines. All 26 crew members die, including 2 Canadian air crew members.

[edit] 1996

[edit] 1997

[edit] 1998

[edit] 1999

[edit] 2000

[edit] 2001

[edit] 2002

[edit] 2003

[edit] 2004

[edit] 2005

[edit] 2006

[edit] 2007

  • January 10 - Two Squirrel helicopters from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury in England collide in mid-air, killing one and injuring three.[1]
  • January 24 - Ecuadorian Defence Minister Guadalupe Larriva, her 17-year-old daughter and five army officers are killed when two Aérospatiale Gazelle military helicopters collided during a night training.[2]
  • February 2 - An HAL Dhruv helicopter, part of the Saarang Helicopter Aerobatics team lost altitude and crashed while practicing for the Aero India-2007 at the Yelahanka Air Base near Bangalore. The Pilot was severely injured, and the co-pilot was killed. The Saarang team continued their planned performance for the airshow.
  • February 18 - A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook crashed in southeastern Afghanistan due to a sudden, unexplained loss of power and control killing 8 and wounding 14 others. The crew reported an engine failure before going down.
  • February 27 - A Netherlands AF F-16AM (J-198) lost its nose wheel during take off from Leeuwarden AB and flew to burn off fuel before making a belly emergency landing with all gear retracted. The aircraft flew for around 30min before the decision was taken to land with the gear down, shut the engine immediately after touch-down and brake moderately to keep directional control until the nose came down on the nose-gear strut. ATC told the pilot of a new plan from Lockheed Martin of a gear-up landing, even though J-198 had a Northrop-Grumman AN/ALQ-131 electronic jamming pod attached. The pod was damaged in the landing, but the F-16 was otherwise only lightly damaged

[edit] External links

[edit] References