List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 1960-1974

This is a list of notable accidents and incidents involving military aircraft grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. For more exhaustive lists, see the Aircraft Crash Record Office or the Air Safety Network. Combat losses are not included except for a very few cases denoted by singular circumstances.

Aircraft terminology

Information on aircraft gives the type, and if available, the serial number of the operator in italics, the constructors number, also known as the manufacturer's serial number (c/n), exterior codes in apostrophes, nicknames (if any) in quotation marks, flight callsign in italics, and operating units.

1960

• 25 February- The 1960 Rio de Janeiro air crash was an aerial collision between two aircraft over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 25, 1960. In the crash, a United States Navy a Douglas R6D-1 (DC-6A), BuNo 131582, flying from Buenos Aires - Ezeiza to Galeão International Airport/Galeão Air Force Base collided in the air over Guanabara Bay, close to the Sugarloaf Mountain with a Real Transportes Aéreos Douglas DC-3 registration PP-AXD, which was flying from Campos dos Goytacazes to Rio de Janeiro - Santos Dumont Airport. Of the 38 occupants of the American aircraft, 3 survived. All 26 passengers and crew of the Brazilian aircraft died.
• 5 March – Late pre-production English Electric Lightning F.1, XG334, c/n 95023, of the Air Fighting Development Squadron, RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, aircraft 'A', lost near Wells-next-the-Sea when the aircraft suffered complete hydraulic failure over Norfolk, loss of all control-surface power, undercarriage failed to lower. Pilot, Sqn. Leader Harding, ejected safely, descending near Syderstone, in North Norfolk. Total flights 34, hours flown 23 h 35 min. This was the first loss of the type. Extensive sea search around Roaring Middle Light failed to find any trace of the missing Lightning.
• 31 March - A B-47E-35-DT Stratojet, 52-1414, of the 384th Bomb Wing, 545th Bomb Squadron, is overstressed and explodes in mid-air over Little Rock, Arkansas at ~0645 hrs., coming down on neighborhoods of the city and setting many houses afire. Only the co-pilot survives, thrown clear of the explosion; three other crew die, plus two civilians on the ground.
• 4 April – A USAF North American F-100D-65-NA Super Sabre, 56-2994, of the 77th TFS, 20th TFW, based at Wethersfield, Essex, crashed into mud flats at the Holbeach Range in eastern England, killing pilot 1st Lt. Thomas R. Winsford. A cause was never clearly determined.
• 1 May – A CIA Lockheed U-2A, 56-6693, Article 360, flown by Francis Gary Powers is shot down by a SA-2 (Guideline) missile near Degtyarsk in the Soviet Union during an overflight codenamed Operation GRAND SLAM, the twenty-fourth and most ambitious deep-penetration flight of the U-2 program. Powers parachutes down and is captured. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announces on 7 May to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and thus the world, that a "spyplane" has been shot down but intentionally makes no reference to the pilot. Powers is later produced in a 'show trial'. On 10 February 1962, twenty-one months after his capture, Powers is exchanged along with American student Frederic Pryor in a spy swap for Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, Germany.
• 7 June - In a Broken Arrow accident, an IM-99A Bomarc missile in ready storage condition (able to launch in two minutes) was destroyed by an explosion and fire inside a shelter at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, when a high-pressure helium tank exploded, rupturing the missile's fuel tanks. Although the W-40 nuclear warhead was completely destroyed, the high explosives did not denote. Contamination was initially thought to be limited to the shelter and a 100-foot-long (30 m) depression by firefighting water run off. However, a USAF press release dated 2002 stated that "Subsequent radiological surveys conducted by the Air Force between 1960 and 1980 revealed contamination over a seven acre area. Cost of the cleanup is approximately $22.1 million and involved the removal of 20,800 cubic yards of material for disposal at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission facility in Utah."
• 8 June – During a ground test run at Edwards AFB, California, the XLR-99 rocket engine of North American X-15-3, 56-6672, exploded, destroying the aircraft aft of the wing, and throwing the forward fuselage with pilot Scott Crossfield in it 30 feet forward. Fortunately, Crossfield was not injured. Footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXpEPZ6ZZIs
• 6 July – Goodyear ZPG-3W, BuNo 144242, lost hull pressure, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off of New Jersey, eighteen of twenty-one crew lost. This was the last U.S. Navy lighter-than-air loss as it leads to cancellation of airship operations on 28 June 1961. Contributing reason of suspension of airship operations is improved speed of Soviet subs.
• 7 July – A Royal Air Force Vickers Varsity T1 WJ914 collided at 1500 ft near RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom with a RAF de Havilland Vampire T11 XD549, all six occupants of the Varsity and two in the Vampire died.
• 19 July – In the wake of the Congo Crisis, a Belgian Air Force C-119 Flying Boxcar crashes into a mountain in Rushengo near Goma after an engine caught fire. 41 died.
• 12 August – RAF Vickers Valiant Bk.1 XD864 crashes at RAF Spanhoe 3 minutes after takeoff from RAF Wittering, Cambridgeshire. Five crew killed.
• 6 September - A GAM-77 Hound Dog missile launched from a B-52 Stratofortress over the Eglin Air Force Base, Florida test range at ~2 p.m. this date goes astray, coming down on a farm near Samson, Alabama. Lt. Col. Gerry Garner, Eglin Air Force Base public information director, stated that an investigation is underway into the errant missile's failure.
• 24 October - The Nedelin catastrophe - A terrible accident at the Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 41, the new Soviet launch pad for the new SS-7 Saddler ICBM at Tyuratam, Russia, occurs during preparation for the first SS-7 flight. Premature ignition of second stage while still on launchpad kills over 200 technicians, as well as the head of Premier Nikita Khrushchev's much-vaunted Strategic Missile Troops, Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin, and most of the SS-7 design team. A huge setback for the Soviet missile program, flight testing of the SS-7 is delayed until November 1961. The Soviets would not release information about the tragedy until 16 April 1989.
• 17 December – A United States Air Force C-131D Samaritan, 55-291, c/n 212, on take-off from München-Riem for a flight to Norfolk, England, comes down in Munich, Germany, hits a tramcar at Bereich Bayerstraße/Martin-Greif-Straße. 53 died in the Munich Convair crash. Most of the aircraft passengers were University of Maryland students on holiday.

1961

• 24 January: A USAF B-52G-95-BW Stratofortress, 58-0187, on airborne alert suffers structural failure, fuel leak, of starboard wing over Goldsboro, North Carolina, wing fails when flaps are engaged during emergency approach to Seymour Johnson AFB, two weapons on board break loose during airframe disintegration, one parachutes safely to ground, second impacts on marshy farm land, breaks apart, sinks into quagmire. Air Force excavates fifty feet down, finds no trace of bomb, forcing permanent digging easement on site. According to the Wikipedia article pertaining to this incident, parts of the weapon WERE recovered. The tail was found at 22 feet down, along with the plutonium core as well as other fragments. The project is abandoned before the entire uranium mass could be recovered, due to uncontrollable ground-water flooding. The USAF purchased the land, to safeguard the in situ remains. Five of eight crew survive.
• 4 February - During minimum interval takeoff (MITO) from Pease AFB, New Hampshire, B-47E-130-BW Stratojet, 53-4244, of the 100th Bomb Wing, number 2 in a three-ship cell, loses control, crashes into trees, burns. Killed are aircraft commander, Capt. Thomas C. Weller, co-pilot 1st Lt. Ronald Chapo, navigator 1st Lt. J. A. Wether, and crew chief S/Sgt. Stephen J. Merva.
• 24 February - A B-47 Stratojet of the 40th Bomb Wing, Forbes AFB, Kansas, crashes at 2218 hrs. CST during practice bomb run, coming down in a heavily-forested area of lake flowage, ~10 miles SW of Hurley, Wisconsin. All four crew KWF: Capt. James P. Jarrett, aircraft commander, of Bandana, North Carolina; 1st Lt. Charles F. Weise, pilot, of San Francisco, California; 1st Lt. Theodore H. Stalmach, navigator, of Miami, Florida; and 1st Lt. Gary H. Hanify, of Toledo, Iowa.
• 10 March: Douglas RB-66C Destroyer, 54-0471, of the 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, suffers explosion in starboard engine on climb-out from Shaw AFB, South Carolina, attempts emergency landing in zero-zero visibility weather at Donaldson AFB at Greenville, South Carolina. On second attempt, aircraft strikes embankment to right of runway threshold, slides onto airfield, burns. Crew escapes with only minor injuries.
• 14 March: Failure of a cabin pressurization system forces USAF B-52F-70-BW Stratofortress, 57-0166, c/n 464155, to fly low, accelerating fuel-burn, bomber has fuel starvation at 10,000 feet over Yuba City, California, crashes, killing aircraft commander. Two nuclear weapons on board tear loose on impact but no explosion or contamination takes place. See also 1961 Yuba City B-52 crash.
• 19 March - Eleventh Lockheed U-2A, 56-6684, Article 351, delivered to the CIA 18 May 1956, modified to U-2C by July 1959; returning from a night celestial nav training sortie, crashes on landing at Taoyuan Air Base, Taiwan, killing Republic Of China Air Force pilot Chih Yao Hua. During a touch-and-go landing, he applied power but lost control, the aircraft veering left, crashing and exploding. Unit was the CIA's Detachment H, ROCAF 35th Squadron.
• 23 March - 2nd Lt. Valentin Vasiliyevich Bondarenko, a Soviet Air Force pilot selected for cosmonaut training in 1960, dies while training in a ground-based spacecraft simulator. Fire broke out in the capsule, which was filled with a pure oxygen atmosphere, and he was unable to escape, dying in hospital sixteen hours later from shock and burns, a grim parallel to the 1967 Apollo 1 accident. In 1980 the details of this incident were at last published in the West, and in 1986 Izvestia published an article by science writer Yaroslav Golovanov, detailing the incident for Russian readers.
• 11 April - A USAF F-101 Voodoo of the 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, returning from an Air Defense Command patrol over the Atlantic Ocean, dropped too low in poor visibility on approach to Dow AFB, Maine, and struck Bald Mountain, near Ellsworth, Maine, killing pilot Capt. Vernal Johnson and Lt. Edward Masaltis. Wreckage remains in place and the Maine Aviation Historical Society has erected a plaque commemorating the crew and asking that the wreck remain undisturbed.
• 18 May - Commander J. L. Felsman, US Navy, is killed in a McDonnell F4H-1F Phantom II, BuNo 145316, during the first attempt at "Operation Sageburner" speed record at Edwards Air Force Base, California, when his aircraft disintegrated in the air after pitch damper failure. This was the first fatal Phantom II accident.
• 24 May - USAF C-124A Globemaster II, 51-0174, of the 63rd Troop Carrier Wing, MATS, Donaldson AFB, South Carolina, loses power on number two (port inner) engine, catches fire at 500 feet altitude one minute after 0230 hrs. take-off from McChord AFB, Washington, hits trees two miles south of runway, explodes, 18 of 22 on board KWF. The transport was en route to Lawton Municipal Airport, Lawton, Oklahoma, with 12 soldiers from Fort Sill, who had been taking part in Exercise Lava Plains at the Yakima Firing Center. In addition, the Globemaster carried a truck, several jeeps and two trailers. One additional badly burned survivor died en route to hospital. Air Force Board of Investigation, relying heavily on two eyewitness accounts of the aircraft's final moments, determined the accident was probably caused by a ruptured fuel line resulting in engine failure during takeoff, the plane's most vulnerable period. One of the four survivors was Master Sergeant Llewellyn Morris Chilson (1920–1981), whom President Harry S Truman (1884–1972) referred to as a "one-man army." On December 6, 1946, in a ceremony at the White House, President Truman had bestowed seven combat decorations on Sergeant Chilson for killing 56 German soldiers and helping to capture 243 others during five months of combat during World War II (1941–1945). Sgt. Chilson received three Distinguished Service Crosses, two Silver Stars, the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit. He had previously received two Purple Hearts, a Distinguished Unit Citation, the Combat Infantryman's Badge and the French Army's Croix de guerre with palms. Chilson, described as one of the nation's greatest soldiers, died 2 October 1981, while visiting friends in Florida.
• 25 May - Brigadier General Barnie B. McEntire, Jr., commander of the South Carolina Air National Guard, is killed when his F-104A-25-LO Starfighter, 56-0853, suffers engine failure on take off from Olmsted Air Force Base, Pennsylvania, and he stays with the jet to crash into the Susquehanna River rather than risk it crashing into populated areas of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Congaree Air National Guard Base near Eastover, South Carolina is subsequently renamed in his honor in October 1961 by Governor Ernest F. Hollings.
• 13 June - A United States Navy Grumman S-2 Tracker lost complete power in one engine and partial power in the other. Flying instructor Lt. J.G Loren Vern Page, 24, died 6 hours later at Iberia Parish Hospital, in New Iberia, Louisiana. He intentionally attempted ditching the aircraft in Spanish Lake, near the Naval Auxiliary Air Station New Iberia, after losing power. Students Lt. J.G. Donald L. Miller and a second unnamed student were both hospitalized with treatable injuries. Lt. J.G. Page was posthumously promoted to full Lieutenant status by the Secretary of the Navy, John B. Connally, for courage and valor. Also named for courage during the rescue of the pilot and the 2 students were LCDR Alvin E. Henke, who commanded the rescue mission, Dr. Lt. Donald E. Hines (MC), and hospital corpsman 3rd class Arthur J. Hoeny. Lt. J.G. Miller was also credited with assisting in the rescue. Lt. Page was survived by his wife Elsa and a daughter, Deborah Anne.
• 16 June - Royal Canadian Navy pilot SubLt. I.K. Rassow is killed when he flies his McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee, BuNo 126434 of VF-870, into a rocky knoll during aerobatic practice near Indian Harbour, Nova Scotia.
• 4 July - Boeing B-52B-30-BO Stratofortress, 53-0380, c/n 16859, shot down by inadvertent launch of AIM-9 Sidewinder from ANG F-100 Super Sabre. Crashed on Mount Taylor, New Mexico.
• 14 September - Thirteenth Lockheed U-2A, 56-6686, Article 353, delivered 6 July 1956 to the CIA, is destroyed this date in a landing accident at Edwards North Base, California, CIA pilot Buster Edens of Detachment G escaping serious injury. Returning from a long test flight, the airframe suddenly stalls while on final and close to the threshold and drops like a rock. The main gear collapses backwards into the fuselage, breaking the sump tank, both wings break off. Fuel leaks, two small fires start. Jim Cherbonneaux, mobile for this flight, helps pilot get free (who was concussed and in shock) and they escape just as the starboard wing and fuselage blow up. Wind shear theorized as cause of accident.
• 24 September - TSgt John Lesso of the Thunderbirds C-123 crew, is killed when an Air Force C-123B-9-FA Provider, 54-672, c/n 20121 , carrying five civilian newsmen and seven members of the Army Golden Knights, on which he was flight engineer, crashes during take-off at an airshow at New Hanover County Airport, Wilmington, North Carolina. Immediately after takeoff, the C-123 leveled off at ~500 feet, lost altitude, then crashed on the runway and burst into flames. U.S. Army PFC. Robert J. McDonnell, was awarded the Soldiers Medal for heroism in refusing help despite his injuries until others were rescued from the downed aircraft. Bob Turner, the team photographer was killed. One other fatality. Second Lieutenant Douglas C. Runnels, U.S. Army Infantry, was also awarded the Soldiers Medal for heroically entering the burning aircraft after the crash to rescue those trapped inside.
• 26 September: An RB-47 bomber crashed on take-off at Forbes Air Force Base, at Topeka, Kansas, killing all three crewmen.
• 21 October – Vought F8U-1 Crusader, BuNo 145357, 'AB 12', of VF-11, arrestor hook and right landing gear broke during heavy landing on USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, with aircraft catching alight and going over port side. A series of nine photographs taken by Photographer's Mate L.J. Cera showed the crash sequence with pilot Lt. J.G Kryway ejecting in Martin-Baker Mk. F-5 seat just as the fighter leaves the deck. These images were widely distributed in the Navy to assure pilots that the seat could save them. Kryway escapes with minor injuries, being picked up by helicopter ten minutes later. Joe Baugher notes that date of 21 August 1961 has also been reported.
• 12 December – Mid-air collision of two Belgian Air Force C-119 Flying Boxcar at Chièvres Air Base, Belgium. 15 died.
• 14 December - Second prototype Hawker P.1127, XP836, crashes at RNAS Yeovilton.

1962

• 5 January – Three crew killed in crash of USAF B-47E-105-BW Stratojet, 52-615, at March AFB, California. This will be the last fatal crash at that base until 19 October 1978. Pilot was Major Clarence Weldon Garrett.
• 16 January - A Strategic Air Command B-47E-50-DT Stratojet, 53-2119, c/n 44465, of the 529th Bomb Squadron , 380th Bomb Wing, Plattsburgh AFB, New York, on low-altitude bombing run training mission, is reported overdue at 0700 hrs. Last radio call was at ~0200 hrs. After four day search, wreckage is spotted in the Adirondack High Peaks. Bomber clipped the top of Wright Peak (16th tallest mountain in the Adirondacks, at 4580 feet) after veering 30 miles off course in inclement weather, high winds. Aircraft Commander 1st Lt. Rodney D. Bloomgren, of Jamestown, New York, copilot 1st Lt. Melvin Spencer, navigator 1st Lt. Albert W. Kandetski and observer A1C Kenneth R. Jensen KWF. Pilot, copilot remains found after ~a week, navigator found later. Observer's remains never recovered. A memorial plaque was erected on a rock near the summit by the 380th Bomb Wing.
• 15 February - B-58A-10-CF Hustler, 59-2447, "Rapid Rabbit", of the 43rd Bomb Wing, Carswell AFB, Texas, crashes 38 miles E of Lawton, Oklahoma following a system malfunction and in-flight fire. Pilot Maj. John Irving, navigator-bombardier Capt. John Fuller and defensive systems operator Capt. Donald Avallon, all eject and survive.
• 1 March - Fourth Lockheed U-2A, Article 344, 56-6677, delivered to the CIA on 20 November 1955, converted to U-2F by October 1961, crashes near Edwards Air Force Base, California, during aerial refueling training, killing Strategic Air Command pilot Capt. John Campbell. Airframe entered jetwash behind the KC-135 Stratotanker, and broke up.
• 15 May - During refuelling at Whiteman AFB, Missouri, B-47E-135-BW Stratojet, 53-6230, of 340th Bomb Wing catches fire, 10,000 gallons of fuel ignite. Four firemen are killed and 18 others injured when fireball engulfs all within 100 feet of burning aircraft.
• 5 June - A hee following Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Hunter T7 trainer (XL610) from No. 111 Squadron based at RAF Wattisham on a routine training flight flying in formation with 2 other aircraft crashes near Silk Willoughby, Lincolnshire, UK killing the 2 crew.
• 22 June - USAF Kaiser-Fraser C-119G Flying Boxcar, 53-8140, c/n 243, catches fire shortly after takeoff from Harlingen AFB, Texas. All four crew members bail out and the airplane crashes near Kings Ranch, Texas.
• 28 August - While on an intermediate stop during a ferry flight to Moscow for acceptance testing, Kamov Ka-22, 0I-01, rolled to the left and crashed inverted, killing the entire crew. The cause was found to be the rotor linkage, and further inspection found that two of the other three Ka-22s suffered from the same defect. Subsequently, in order to improve stability and control, a complex differential autopilot was installed. This sensed attitude and angular accelerations, and fed into the control system.
• 26 September – A USAF Boeing RB-47K-BW Stratojet, either 53-4270, 4272 or 4279, of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, loses number six engine during take-off from Forbes AFB, Kansas, crashes, killing all four crew, aircraft commander Lt. Col. James G. Woolbright, copilot 1st Lt. Paul R. Greenwalt (also reported as Greenawalt), navigator Capt. Bruce Kowol, and crewchief S/Sgt. Myron Curtis. Cause was contaminated water-alcohol in assisted takeoff system.
• October 27: Major Rudolf Anderson, a Greenville, South Carolina native and 1948 graduate from Clemson University's cadet corps and pilot with the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing is tasked with an overflight of Cuba on mission 3128, in a CIA Lockheed U-2F spyplane, remarked with USAF insignia, to take photos of the Soviet SS-N-4 medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) and SS-N-5 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBMs) build-ups. Anderson had first qualified on the U-2 type on September 3, 1957. This would be his sixth Cuban overflight. He departed McCoy AFB, Florida at 0909 hrs ET. Contrary to Moscow orders to not engage reconnaissance flights, a single Soviet-manned SA-2 missile battery at Banes fired at Anderson's high-flying U-2F, 56-6676, (Article 343), at 1021 hrs, Havana time (1121 hrs. ET). Although not a direct hit, several pieces of shrapnel punctured the canopy and the pilot's partial pressure suit and helmet, resulting in Anderson's immediate death. A censored Central Intelligence Agency document dated October 28, 1962, 0200 hours, states "The loss of the U-2 over Banes was probably caused by intercept by an SA-2 from the Banes site, or pilot hypoxia, with the former appearing more likely on the basis of present information." Actually, it was both.
• 27 October – A USAF Boeing RB-47H-BW, 53-6248, of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, experienced loss of thrust and crashed at Kindley AFB, Bermuda, killing all four crew, aircraft commander Maj. William A. Britton, copilot 1st Lt. Holt J. Rasmussen, navigator Capt. Robert A. Constable, and observer Capt. Robert C. Dennis. Cause was contaminated water-alcohol. This aircraft had spotted the Soviet freighter Grozny with missiles bound for Cuba on its deck on 26 September.
• 9 November – An engine failure forced Jack McKay, a NASA research pilot, to make an emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada, in the second X-15, 56-6671 on flight 2-31-52. The aircraft's landing gear collapsed and the X-15 flipped over on its back. McKay was promptly rescued by an Air Force medical team standing by near the launch site, and eventually recovered to fly the X-15 again. But his injuries, more serious than at first thought, eventually forced his retirement from NASA. The aircraft was sent back to the manufacturer, where it underwent extensive repairs and modifications. It returned to Edwards AFB in February 1964 as the X-15A-2, with a longer fuselage and external fuel tanks.
• 11 November – A USAF Boeing RB-47H-BW, 53-4297, of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, crashes at MacDill AFB, Florida, when the Stratojet loses power on an outboard engine, rolls, and crashes within the confines of the base. All three crew KWF – aircraft commander Capt. William E. Wyatt, copilot Capt. William C. Maxwell, and navigator 1st Lt. Rawl.

1963

• 24 January: B-52C-40-BO Stratofortress, 53-0406, of the 99th Bomb Squadron, out of Westover AFB, Massachusetts on a low-level flight training mission, commanded by Col. Dante Bulli, 40, of Cherry, Illinois, hits turbulence while flying ~ 100 ft. above the ground as it approached Elephant Mountain near Greenville, Maine, loses vertical fin. Conditions were reported as air speed of 280 knots, outside temperature 14 degrees below zero, with the winds gusting to 40 knots. As the bomber went out of control, the pilot ordered ejection. Only three crew got out: Bulli and Capt. Gerald Adler, 31, of Houston, Texas, survived, though Adler was badly injured. The copilot, Major Robert J. Morrison was killed when he hit a tree while parachuting to the ground. Lt. Col. Joe R. Simpson, Jr, Maj. William W. Gabriel, Maj. Robert J. Hill, Capt. Herbert L. Hansen, Capt. Charles G. Leuchter, and TSgt. Michael F. O'Keefe did not have time to eject, and perished. A C-54 Skymaster from Goose Bay, Labrador drops a team of paramedics to aid the two survivors, who are then transported by helicopter to Dow Air Force Base, Bangor, Maine, where they are pronounced to be in "good condition."
• 30 January - A B-52E-90-BO Stratofortress, 57-0018, of the 6th Bomb Wing from Walker Air Force Base, New Mexico, crashes in snow-covered mountains in northern New Mexico, with at least three crew surviving. Aircraft commander Lt. Col. Donald L. Hayes, 39, of Alta, Iowa, and another officer walked through heavy snow to a near-by town in search of aid. Survivors, who parachuted from the bomber, include Lt. Col. Nicholas P. Horangic, 39, radio operator, of Boydtown, Pennsylvania, and Maj. Thomas J. McBride, 42, co-pilot, of Panama City, Florida. Horangic was treated for shock and a possible broken left elbow at a Mora, New Mexico hospital. McBride walked to safety and telephoned the base. Three T-33 Shooting Stars and, later, three C-54 Skymasters, circled the area traying to locate other survivors. The pilots reported that they saw two other survivors after the first man walked to safety. The crew also included Maj. Emil B. A. Goldbeck, 40, navigator, of Kennelworth, New Jersey; Maj. George J. Szabo, 44, electronics countermeasures officer, of Columbus, Ohio; and M/Sgt. Burl D. Deas, 39, gunner, of Charleston, West Virginia. The vertical fin was torn off in turbulence. The ECM operator and tail gunner were killed.
• 1 February - Over 200 are injured and 73 killed when a Turkish Air Force C-47 Dakota, CBK28, and a Mid East Airlines Vickers 745D Viscount turboprop airliner, OD-ADE, c/n 244, collide in a cloud bank in the afternoon over Ankara, Turkey, the press initially reports. Most of the victims were pedestrians and occupants of buildings lining Ulus Square in the Turkish capital. Eleven passengers and three crew aboard the commercial flight, and three crew aboard the Dakota were included in the fatalities. The C-47 was on a training flight. The body of one its crew was found on top of a building near the square with a partially opened parachute. Later description of the accident reported that the Viscount, Flight Number 265, from Cypress to Ankara, was descending into Ankara-Esenboga Airport (ESB/LTAC), when it overtook the Dakota, which was returning to Etesmigut Airport. The airliner's number 3 (starboard inner) prop sliced off the Dakota's port horizontal stabilizer, while the starboard side of the Viscount was torn open with some passengers sucked out of the fuselage. An attempt to avoid the Dakota by the Viscount crew at the last moment was unsuccessful. This account gives ground fatalities as 87, and reports conditions as clear.
• 20 March – McDonnell F3H-2 Demon, BuNo 145281, of VF-14 suffers either cold catapult launch or failure of catapult harness before launch off USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, CV-42, and goes over the bow. Pilot Lt.j.g. Joseph Janiak, Jr. killed, body not recovered. Navy photo captured moment the Demon tipped over the bow.
• 27 March - North American T-28A Trojan, 52-1242, c/n 189-57, converted to first prototype RA-28 (a proposed turboprop combat version for use in SE Asia), later redesignated YAT-28E. Deficiency in tailfin area (tail unit separated in flight) led to its entering a flat spin and crashing this date, killing the pilot when he was unable to bail out due to a jammed canopy.
• April - During an early test of the Fulton Skyhook system by the U.S. Navy, a volunteer for pick-up was brought aboard an S2F Tracker, experiencing vertigo and disorientation. An inexperienced recovery crew detached his lift line before attaching a safety line. With no restraining line, the individual stumbled and fell through an open hatch to his death. Only one other fatality is attributed to the recovery system in the next two decades.
• 24 May – Central Intelligence Agency pilot Ken Collins is forced to eject from Lockheed A-12, 60-6926, Article 123, during subsonic test flight when aircraft stalls due to inaccurate data being displayed to pilot. Airframe impacts 14 miles (22.5 km.) S of Wendover, Utah. Official cover story refers to it as a Republic F-105 Thunderchief. Cause was found to be pitot-static system failure due to icing. Airframe had made 79 flights for a total time of 136:10 hours.
• 26 June – A Belgian Air Force Kaiser-Frazier C-119G Flying Boxcar, CP45, c/n 246, crashes near Detmold, Germany after being accidentally hit by a British mortar bomb. 5 crewmen and 33 paratroopers died, while 9 paratroopers managed to jump into safety using their parachutes.
• 7 July – Marine Corps Reserve pilot Capt. John W. Butler, 30, of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, suffers electrical failure in F-1E Fury BuNo 143609 during ground control intercept mission in a flight with three other aircraft, losing directional instruments, radio contact, at 36,000 feet. Ejects at low altitude after trying everything he can to regain control. Fury strikes ballfield at Green Hill Day Camp, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, skids 500 yards through some trees, a high hedge, and strikes a bathhouse in which ~30 persons have taken shelter from a severe thunderstorm. Seven on ground are killed, 15 injured.
• 15 July – Two North American F-100 Super Sabres of the 492nd TFS, 48th TFW, based at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, suffer mid-air collision during routine gunnery exercise on the Holbeach Range, both aircraft coming down in the sea five miles off King's Lynn. Pilot 1st Lt. L.C. Marshall parachuted from F-100D-45-NH, 55-2792, c/n 224-59, rescued from his dinghy by helicopter, but 1st Lt. D.F. Ware rode F-100D-45-NH, 55-2786, c/n 224-53, to his death.
• 19 August – A USAF QB-47E Stratojet, of the 3205th Drone Director Group, veers off course on touchdown at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, crashing onto Eglin Parkway parallel to runway 32/14. Two cars were crushed by the Stratojet, killing two occupants, Robert W. Glass and Dr. Robert Bundy, and injuring a third, Dorothy Phillips. Mr. Glass and Dr. Bundy both worked for the Minnesota Honeywell Corporation at the time, a firm which had just completed flight tests on an inertia guidance sub-system for the X-20 Dyna-Soar project at the base utilizing an NF-101B Voodoo. Mrs. Phillips was the wife of Master Sergeant James Phillips, a crew chief at the base. Mrs. Phillips was treated for moderate injuries and released later that day. Both vehicles were destroyed by fire. Four firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation while fighting the blaze which reignited several times. Fire crews had to lay over a mile of hose to reach the crash from the nearest hydrant, as well. The QB-47 was used for Bomarc Missile Program tests, which normally operated from Auxiliary Field Three (Duke Field), approximately 15 miles from the main base, but was diverted to Eglin Main after thunderstorms built up over Duke.
• 19 August – Two B-47 Stratojets from Schilling AFB, Salina, Kansas, collide in mid-air over Irwin, Iowa during a nine-hour navigation, air-refuelling and radar bomb scoring mission. Bombers depart Schilling at 1125 hrs. and 1126 hrs., then collide in overcast shortly after 1230 hrs., coming down on two farms ~2 miles apart. Two crew DOA at Harlan Hospital, Irwin, Iowa, three treated for injuries, one located alive. Strategic Air Command identifies three survivors as Capt. Richard M. Smiley, 29, of Arlington, Kansas, aircraft commander of one B-47; Capt. Allan M. Ramsey, Jr., 32, of Bainbridge, Georgia, Smiley's navigator; Capt. Richard M. Snowden, 29, navigator on second B-47. Listed as missing: Capt. Leonard A. Theis, 29, San Fernando, California, co-pilot on second B-47; dead is Capt. Peter J. Macchi, 29, Belleville, New Jersey, Smiley's co-pilot; second fatality not immediately identified. Smiley suffers head injuries, Ramsey, back injuries, and Snowden, burns and leg injuries.
• 19 August – Twin accidents aboard the USS Constellation (CV-64) kill three. First, an F-4B Phantom II snaps arresting cable during night landing, goes over the side, pilot Lt. Robert J. Craig, 31, of San Diego is lost with his unidentified RIO, three deck crew injured by whipping cable. Then several hours later, in unrelated accident, Missile Technician 2nd Class Robert William Negus, originally from Lompoc, California, is crushed by a missile, the Navy in San Diego reported.
• 29 August – Two KC-135 Stratotankers, assigned with the 19th Bomb Wing, collide over the Atlantic between Bermuda and Nassau, all eleven crew aboard the two jets lost. Debris and oil slicks found ~750 miles ENE of Miami, Florida. Aircraft were returning to Homestead AFB, Florida after mission to refuel two B-47 Stratojets from Schilling AFB, Kansas (both of which landed safely) when contact with them was lost. Search suspended Monday night, 2 September 1963, when wreckage recovered by the Air Rescue Service is positively identified as being from the missing tankers.
• 22 September – MATS C-133A-15-DL Cargomaster, 56-2002, c/n 45167, of the 1607th Air Transport Wing, with ten personnel of the 1st Air Transport Squadron on board, is lost in the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Dover AFB, Delaware to the Azores when contact is lost some 57 minutes after a 0233 EDT take-off from Dover. Last reported position was ~30 miles off of Cape May, New Jersey.
• 2 October – Second of two Short SC.1 VTOL experimental testbeds, XG905, c/n SH. 1815, a compact tailless delta monoplane with five Rolls-Royce RB108 engines, one for propulsion and four for lift, crashes while attempting landing at Belfast, Northern Ireland. Gyros failed, producing false references which caused the auto-stabiliser system to fly the aircraft into the ground. The failure occurred at less than 30 feet, giving pilot J.R. Green no time to revert to manual control. Airframe impacted inverted, killing pilot.
• 10 November - Strategic Air Command WB-47E Stratojet, 51-2420, making emergency landing at Lajes Air Base, Azores, skids into parking ramp, strikes Boeing C-97C Stratofreighter, 50-0690, loses port inner engine nacelle (numbers 2 and 3), starboard outer nacelle (number 6) and starboard wingtip. Fire damages port inner wing above lost nacelle. Crew survives.
• 20 November - Tenth Lockheed U-2A, Article 350, 56-6683, delivered to the CIA on 24 April 1956, converted to U-2F by spring 1963; loaned to Strategic Air Command for Cuba overflight missions, crashes into the Gulf of Mexico 40 miles NW of Key West, Florida, killing pilot Capt. Joe Hyde, Jr. Pilot was returning from a Brass Knob mission and was hand-flying the aircraft back to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, at 69,000 feet after failure of autopilot when it entered a flat spin and impacted in the Gulf. Wreckage retrieved from shallow water near Florida coast but ejection seat, seat pack and parachute missing - pilot never found
• 10 December: Test pilot Charles Chuck Yeager, out of Edwards AFB, California, zoom climbs NF-104A Starfighter, 56-0762, modified with rocket engine in tail unit, to 106,300 feet (32,400 m), but aircraft enters flat spin when directional jets in nose run out of propellant, forcing him to eject. He suffers injuries when his helmet collides with the ejection seat. This mission was very loosely depicted in the film The Right Stuff. Aircraft was originally built as F-104A-10-LO. See also flying accident during a test flight.

1964

• 2 January - A USAF C-124C Globemaster II, 52-968, c/n 43877, of the 28th Air Transport Squadron, en route from Tachikawa Air Force Base near Tokyo, Japan, to Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii with nine on board and 11 tons of cargo, disappears over the Pacific Ocean after making a fuel stop at Wake Island. Due at Hickam at 0539 hrs. EST, the Globemaster II is last heard from at 0159 hrs. EST. Fuel exhaustion would have been at 1000 hrs. EST and the aircraft is presumed down at sea. An automatic SOS signal is detected emanating from an aircraft-type radio with a constant carrier frequency of 4728 kilocycles, issuing an automatically-keyed distress message, and a dozen aircraft of the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard are sent to search from Hickam and from Guam, Midway, and Johnston Island. Poor weather and limited visibility hampers search efforts. The U.S. Navy's USS Lansing also participates in the search. The eight missing Air Force crew and one U.S. Navy man escorting a body back to the U. S. are officially declared dead on 21 January. This was the first C-124 accident since May 1962.
• 4 January – NRB-57D Canberra, 53-3973, of the Wright Air Development Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, suffers structural failure of both wings at 50,000 feet (15240 m), comes down in schoolyard at Dayton, Ohio, crew bails out. The USAF subsequently grounds all W/RB-57D aircraft.
• 6 January - A U.S. Navy pilot ejects from an A-4C Skyhawk shortly after departing NAS Oceana, Virginia when the fighter-bomber catches fire. Lt. J.G. J. R. Mossman, 24, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, is alerted by his wingman that the tail is on fire just after beginning a flight to NAS Pensacola, Florida, and ejects 10 miles SE of Virginia Beach, Virginia, parachuting into the Atlantic Ocean. Wingman Lt. Henri B. Chase orbits Mossman's position until a helicopter from NAS Norfolk arrives and picks him up. The pilot is unhurt. "By coincidence, Mossman is one of three pilots who last month practiced being rescued at sea by helicopter off Virginia Beach."
• 10 January – The Dassault Balzac V crashes on its 125th sortie, during a low-altitude hover. During a vertical descent the aircraft experienced uncontrollable divergent wing oscillations, the port wing eventually striking the ground at an acute angle with the aircraft rolling over because of the continued lift engine thrust. The loss was attributed to loss of control because the stabilising limits of the three-axis autostabilisation system's 'puffer pipes' were exceeded in roll. Although airframe damage was relatively light, the Centre D'Essai en Vol test pilot, Jacques Pinier, did not eject and died in the crash.
• 10 January - Boeing civilian test pilot Chuck Fisher and his three man crew lose the vertical fin of B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress, 61-023, in turbulence at ~ 14,000 ft. over northern New Mexico's Sangre de Christo mountains. An F-100 Super Sabre out of Wichita, Kansas and a KC-135 Stratotanker are launched to escort the bomber, and due to high winds at Wichita the decision is made to land at Blytheville AFB, Blytheville, Arkansas. After six hours of careful preparation, including the launch of another B-52 to test various landing configuration options, the damaged Stratofortress is successfully landed. It is subsequently repaired and currently serves with the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base.
• 13 January – United States Air Force B-52D-10-BW Stratofortress, 55-060, Buzz One Four, of the 484th Bomb Wing, Westover AFB, Massachusetts, suffers structural failure in turbulence of winter storm as blizzard socks the East Coast, crashes approximately 17 miles SW of Cumberland, Maryland. The bomber comes down in a small valley on Elbow Mountain in a state park. Pilot, co-pilot, eject, survive. Navigator, tail gunner, eject, die of exposure. Radar nav fails to eject, rides airframe in with two nuclear weapons on board. The pilot, Maj. Thomas W. McCormick, 42, of Hawkey, West Virginia, telephoned the Air Force in Washington, D.C. from a farmhouse near Grantsville, Maryland, saying that he was apparently the last of his crew to bail out, having heard the other seats leave the aircraft before he ejected. The U.S. Army sends a 15-man team of bomb disposal experts from Fort Meade, Maryland, and the USAF dispatches a 35-man rescue team from Andrews AFB, Maryland. Both bombs survive intact and are recovered. The Stratofortress was also carrying two AGM-28 Hound Dog air-to-ground missiles. See also 1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash.
• 22 January - A USAF F-104B Starfighter of the 319th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Air Defense Command, Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, crashes at ~1330 hrs. on Santa Rosa Island, ~one mile E of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, shortly after departure from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to return to Homestead. The pilot, Capt. Lucius O. Evans, ejects safely just before the fighter impacts in sand dunes just short of the Coronado Motor Hotel, parachuting into the Choctawhatchee Bay. He is then transported to the Eglin base hospital by Assistant Police Chief Jack McSwain, where he is reported to have sustained no injuries. Over sixty occupants at the hotel are not injured although flaming wreckage sprays an area close to the business. Eyewitness Andrew Christiansen, of Chester, Connecticut, reported that the aircraft was on fire as it descended and observed Capt. Evans' ejection from the Starfighter. A secondary explosion after the impact further scatters the burning wreckage.
• 28 January - A T-39A-1-NA Sabreliner, 62-4448, c/n 276-1 , of the 7101st Air Base Wing, Wiesbaden Air Base, West Germany, was shot down over Erfurt, Germany by Soviet MiG-19s after errantly entering Soviet airspace over East Germany. All three crewmembers, Captain John F. Lorraine and students Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford and Captain Donald G. Millard, were killed. See T-39 Aircraft Incident.
• 11 February - During an evening airpower demonstration, an B-26 Invader on a strafing pass over Range 52 at Eglin AFB, Florida, loses a wing as it pulls up at ~1945 hrs., with the loss of two crew, both assigned to the 1st Air Commando Wing, Hurlburt Field. KWF are pilot Capt. Herman S. Moore, 34, of 28 Palmetto Drive, Mary Esther, Florida, and navigator Capt. Lawrence L. Lively, 31, of 19 Azalea Drive, Mary Esther, Florida. Moore, originally of Livingston, Montana is survived by his widow, Nancy Lee Moore, and a stepson, John H. Duckworth, 9, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William N. Moore, 117 South 10th Street, Livingston. Mrs. Moore is a teacher in the Okaloosa County School system. Lively is survived by his widow, Joan R. Lively. The Invader was participating in a demonstration of the Special Air Warfare Center's counter insurgency capabilities, an activity that had been presented on average of twice each month for the past 21 months. This was the first such accident for SAWC during that period. The USAF subsequently grounds all combat B-26s on 8 April as the stress of operations now exceed the airframes' abilities. On Mark Engineering Company remanufactures 41 old airframes as one YB-26K and forty B-26Ks with new spars, larger engines and rudders, and new 1964 fiscal year serial numbers which see use in Southeast Asia, and which will be redesignated A-26As for political reasons.
• 3 March - The port side cargo door of a C-130A Hercules explosively blows off the aircraft at 19,000 feet above the Smoky Mountain resort town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, carrying one crewman to his death and another hanging onto a chain outside the aircraft as the fuselage decompresses. Crew chief Jose Gallegoes, 32, was holding a length of chain attached to his bolted-down tool box when the access door blew off. "Something like an explosion happened and I found myself hanging out of the plane", the San Luis, Colorado man said later. "I was hanging by the chain with which I was securing the tool box. That chain saved my life", he said. His fellow crewmen pulled him back inside the cargo plane, but there was nothing they could do for the as yet unidentified crewman who fell to his death on the mountainous slopes below, ~35 miles E of Knoxville, Tennessee. He had no parachute. A search was begun for his body. The departing door also sheared off the number two (port inner) propeller. The pilot, Flt. Lt. David W. Parsons, a Royal Air Force exchange officer from Wellington, England, was circling over McGhee Tyson Air Force Base when the door gave way. He immediately initiated an emergency landing, but found that he had no hydraulic control for the nose gear, touching down on the main gear before the Hercules settled onto its nose, skidding ~5,000 feet along the runway before coming to a halt. None of the seven crew remaining aboard were hurt. The C-130 was en route from Sewart Air Force Base, at Smyrna, Tennessee to Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina, when the accident occurred. Most of the plane's parachutes were stacked near the door and were carried over the side by the decompression. Sheriff Ray Noland stated that an open parachute was seen drifting down near Sevierville, Tennessee, and deputies searching for the crewman's body found a parachute, a seat and the door ~two miles N of state highway 73, E of Gatlinburg.
• 9 March - An armed U. S. Army "HU-1B" Huey escorting U. S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara into "the heart of the Communist-infested Mekong River Delta" in South Vietnam, crashes into the Bassac River, killing the enlisted door gunners, who apparently drown. The helicopter goes down just as McNamara lands in another chopper with Maj. Gen. Hguyen Khanh, head of South Vietnam's military government. The Huey's engine apparently stalls, losing power just as the helicopter executes a sharp sweeping turn upward after making a low level pass over some trees while looking for snipers. The Huey plunges into the river, sinks immediately, with loss of the gunners. The officer-pilots escape and are rescued. In hospital they are found to have suffered only minor injuries. Some members of the SecDef's party witness the accident but McNamara does not. He states later that he is "grieved beyond words" over the loss.
• 15 March - A Blue Angels pilot is killed during an attempted emergency landing at Apalachicola Municipal Airport near Apalachicola, Florida when his F-11A Tiger experiences difficulties while transiting from West Palm Beach, Florida back to the Blue Angels home base at NAS Pensacola, Florida. Lt. George L. Neale, 29, who flew in the Number Four slot position of the diamond formation, was returning from a demonstration at West Palm Beach with one other of the six team jets and an R5D Skymaster support plane when he radios Tyndall Air Force Base, near Panama City, Florida, for emergency landing permission when he suffers mechanical problems S of Apalachicola. But, spotting the local airport, he attempts a landing there, ejecting on final approach at 1115 hrs. as the fighter comes down ~250 yards short of the runway. Although he clears the airframe at ~150–200 feet altitude, his chute does not have sufficient time to deploy and he is killed. He is survived by his wife Donna, of Pensacola, Florida, and his mother, Mrs. Katherine Neale, of Avalon, Pennsylvania. The Navy said that the cause of the accident is being investigated.
• 23 March - Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C.1, XP413, of 105 Squadron, deployed to RAF Khormaksar, Aden, ditches in the Aden harbour whilst on finals to the easterly runway at Khormaksar, when, during crew training, the number four (starboard outer) engine was shut down for practice. Due to confusion in the cockpit, the crew managed to shut down both starboard engines without feathering either and the Argosy comes down with remarkably little damage, settling on its undercarriage in about 5 feet (1.5 m.) of water. Hauled onto dry land, it is eventually shipped back to the UK by boat, refurbished by Hawker Siddeley, and returned to duty.
• 23 March - Lockheed U-2A, 56-6689, Article 356, delivered to the Central Intelligence Agency on 5 September 1956. Transferred to Strategic Air Command in November 1957. Damaged by typhoon at Guam in late 1962, then transferred back to the CIA and converted to U-2F by March 1963. Crashed this date in the Taiwan Straits, killing CAF pilot Maj. The Peh "Sonny" Liang, when he apparently lost control at altitude due to an overspeed while flying along the mainland coast. Pilot apparently ejected, but may have drowned. Body recovered by a fishing vessel, partly eaten by sharks.
• 1 April - In an unusual accident, the Number Three deck elevator of the USS Randolph (CVS-15) tears loose from the ship during night operations and plunges into the Atlantic, taking with it an S-2D Tracker, five crewman, and a tractor. Three crew are rescued by the USS Holder (DD-819), but two are lost at sea.
• 9 May – A Republic F-105B-15-RE Thunderchief, 57-5801, Thunderbird 2, one of nine delivered to the Thunderbirds demonstration team in mid-April 1964, suffers structural failure and disintegrates during 6G tactical pitch up for landing at airshow at Hamilton AFB, California, killing pilot Capt. Eugene J. Devlin. The failure of the fuselage's upper spine causes the USAF to ground all F-105s and retrofit the fleet with a structural brace, but the air demonstration team reverts to the F-100 Super Sabre and never flies another show in F-105s.
• 11 May – A United States Air Force C-135B-BN Stratolifter, 61-0332, c/n 18239, crashed on landing at Clark Air Force Base, Philippines, hitting a taxi. 84 on board, 5 survivors, passengers in taxi also killed. Date of 11 August 1964 cited by Joe Baugher. The crash occurred while attempting to land during a rainstorm at approximately 1920 hrs.
• Mid-May - A USAF F-101B Voodoo, of the 322d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 408th Fighter Group, from Kingsley Field crashes near Klamath Falls, Oregon, kills two crew, Frank Vecchio and William Pitts.
• 10 June – First Lockheed XV-4A Hummingbird, 62-4503, (originally designated VZ-10) crashes, killing civilian Army test pilot. Aircraft had just transitioned from conventional to vertical flight at 3,000 feet (914 m) when control was lost. Airframe came down between Dobbins AFB and Woodstock, Georgia, injuring one civilian on ground.
• 8 July - F-105D-25-RE Thunderchief, 61-0091, call sign ','TAR 86 of the the 355th TFW, George AFB, California, #2 in a flight of three aircraft for an air refueling mission, collides over Death Valley with KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, 60-0340, c/n 18115, call sign SHAG 21, out of Larson AFB, Washington. The prevailing weather in the Death Valley refueling area was clear with visibility unrestricted. The aircraft rendezvoused at ~ 26,000 feet. During the in-flight refueling, the F-105 struck the KC-135’s right wing causing the mid-air break up of both aircraft. The collision occurred at 14:58Z resulting in structural breakup of both, which exploded creating a large fireball. Several airborne pilots observed flaming wreckage until it impacted with the ground. Witnesses did not observe and parachutes after the collision, and subsequent investigation revealed no survivors. Killed were pilot Capt. Thomas F. Dozier, copilot 1st LT Erwin W. Boelter Jr., navigator 1st Lt Ronald D. Williams and boom operator S/Sgt Robert J. Graves, as well as F-105 pilot Capt. Leonard F. Reynolds.
• 9 July – Lockheed test pilot Bill Park ejects safely from Lockheed A-12, 60-6939, Article 133, on approach to Groom Dry Lake, Nevada during test flight after total hydraulic failure. Park ejects laterally at 200 feet altitude on approach. The cause of the accident was temperature gradients in the outboard elevon serve valve. 1968, page 16.</ref> The aircraft had made ten flights for a total of 8.17 hours.
• 15 July - A Soviet Tupolev Tu-16R "Badger" crashes in the Sea of Japan. In April 1995, during working group sessions, the U.S. side passed over the deck logs of the USS Bennington from 1 July 64 to 31 July 1964, the deck log of the USS Cunningham from 14 July 1964 to 16 July 1964 and the deck log of the USS Eversole from 14 July 1964 to 16 July 1964. These deck logs all pertain to the crash of the "Badger".
• 12 August - While involved in Soviet Air Force testing, Kamov Ka-22, OI-03, was destroyed. The aircraft entered an uncontrolled turn to the right, and in efforts to correct the Ka-22 pitched into a steep dive. The order was given to abandon the aircraft, and three of the crew survived, but Col S. G. Brovtsev, who was flying, and technician A. F.Rogov, were killed.
• 14 September – First prototype EWR VJ 101C, X-1, an experimental German jet fighter VTOL aircraft (VJ stood for "Vertikal Jäger" – German for "Vertical Fighter"), crashes after a normal horizontal take-off, but pilot escapes using Martin-Baker Mk. GA7 zero-zero ejection seat.
• 18 September - Lockheed U-2A, 56-6703, Article 370, delivered to the U.S. Air Force in April 1957; assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Laughlin AFB, Texas in June 1957. Modified as "ferret" aircraft by mid-1959. Converted to U-2E in August 1962. Destroyed in landing accident at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, this date, killing Maj. Robert Primrose, when he stalled 2,000 feet short of the runway and slammed into the ground. Gusting winds forced him to overshoot as he attempted a steep turn onto finals. "Pinky" Primrose had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for missions over Cuba during the missile crisis.
• 21 September – During delivery flight of XB-70A-1-NA Valkyrie, 62-0001, from Palmdale, California to Edwards AFB, California, on touchdown the brakes on the main gear lock up and the friction causes the eight tires and wheels to burn. The Valkyrie was otherwise undamaged.
• 14 October - B-50D-80-BO Superfortress, 48-065, converted to KB-50J, of the 421st Air Refuelling Squadron, crashed this date shortly after takeoff on training mission while supporting Yankee missions over Laos. Corrosion found in wreckage led to early retirement of KB-50 fleet and its replacement with KC-135s.
• 31 October – NASA astronaut Theodore Freeman is killed when a goose smashes through the cockpit canopy of his T-38A Talon jet trainer, 63-8188, at Ellington AFB, Texas. Flying shards of Plexiglas enter the jet engine intake, causing the engine to flameout. Freeman ejects but is too close to the ground for his parachute to open properly. He is posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
• 31 October – Tornado collapses hangar of 1° Gruppo Elicotteri (First Helicopter Group), Italian Navy, at the Naval Air Station at Maristaeli Catania, destroying five SH-34G Seabats: MM143899, c/n 58-599, '4-06'; MM143940, c/n 58-710, '4-07'; MM143949, c/n 58-745, '4-08'; MM80163, c/n 58-990, '21', '4-01', and MM80164, c/n 58-991, '22', '4-02'.
• 2 December - Strategic Air Command B-47E-125-BW Stratojet, 53-2398, of the 380th Bomb Wing, suffers collapse of forward main gear unit, skids off right side of runway at Plattsburgh AFB, New York, crew escapes safely. Airframe struck off charge 13 January 1965.
• 8 December – United States Air Force B-58A-15-CF Hustler, 60-1116, of the 305th Bomb Wing, taxiing for take-off on icy taxiway at Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana, is blown off the pavement by exhaust of another departing B-58, strikes concrete manhole box adjacent to the runway, landing gear collapses, burns. Navigator killed in failed ejection, two other crew okay. Four B43 nuclear bombs and either a W39 or W53 warhead are on board the weapons pod, but no explosion takes place and contamination is limited to crash site.
• 18 December - Lockheed U-2A, 56-6712, Article 379, delivered to the U.S. Air Force in July 1957; assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Laughlin AFB, Texas. Crashed this date near Tucson, Arizona after bail out by Chinese Air Force Capt. Steve Shi Hi Sheng, 28, while on approach to Davis-Monthan AFB. Flew through Cumulonimbus cloud of an approaching storm during its building phase, contrary to the mission briefing. After recovering from landing in a cactus patch, pilot is transferred to an F-104 training course which he graduates from. However, after returning to Taiwan, he crashed in a CAF Starfighter and was killed.

1965

• 16 January – A United States Air Force KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, 57-1442, c/n 17513, crashed after an engine failure shortly after take off from McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, USA. The fuel laden plane crashed at the intersection of 20th and Piatt causing a huge fire. 30 were killed, 23 on the ground and the 7 member crew.
• 26 February - USAF B-47E-25-DT Stratojet, 52-0171, collides with KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, 63-8882, during midair refuelling 410 mi. SSE of Harmon Air Base, Newfoundland, both aircraft lost.
• 21 March - Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5922, crashes at the Vought facility at NAS Dallas, Texas, while flying at 24 mph at an altitude of 10 to 20 feet, striking the ground first with the port wingtip, then with the starboard wingtip, before making a hard landing. The wing at the time was at an angle of 45 degrees with the flaps deflected at 60 degrees. Wingtips, ailerons and outboard engine tailpipes are damaged, but crew is uninjured. Recirculated propwash airflow caused by combination of wing tilt and flap deflection produced large erratic aerodynamic disturbances and loss of directional stability. Aircraft is repaired.
• 27 April – Ryan XV-5A Vertifan, 62-4505, noses over from 800 feet (244 m) and crashes at Edwards AFB, California, during a demonstration in front of several hundred reporters, military personnel, and civilians. Ryan test pilot Willis Louis "Lou" Everett, flying at 180 knots, prepares to transition from conventional flight to fan mode but the aircraft unexpectedly pitches down. Everett attempts low-altitude ejection but seat fails, his chute snags on the high tail, and he is killed.
• 5 June - USAF C-119F-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-2680, c/n 10669, of the 440th Troop Carrier Wing (Medium), General Billy Mitchell Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin , piloted by Maj. Louis Giuntoli, departs Homestead AFB, Florida, at 1947 hrs. for flight to Grand Turk Island Airport, Turks and Caicos Islands, with crew of 5 and 4 mechanics slated to fix engine of a C-119 stranded on Grand Turk. Aircraft never arrives, having gone missing over the Atlantic off the Bahamas. Wreckage never found although a few small items washed up a few months later, the Air Force reportedly told the Miami Herald.
• 8 June - Two T-33A Shooting Stars of the Royal Dutch Air Force Whisky 4 flight demonstration team collide during the Woensdrecht Air Base airshow, killing pilots Liem and Sommer.
• 18 June - On the very first Operation Arc Light mission flown by B-52 Stratofortresses of Strategic Air Command to hit a target in South Vietnam, a total of 30 B-52Fs depart Andersen AFB, Guam just after midnight, flying in ten cells of three aircraft, to hit a suspected Viet Cong stronghold in the Bến Cát District, 40 miles N of Saigon. Unexpected tailwinds from a typhoon cause the bombers to arrive seven minutes early at their refuelling point with KC-135 tankers over the South China Sea at a point between South Vietnam and the island of Luzon. The three planes of Green Cell, in the lead, begin a 360 degree turn to make their rendezvous, and in doing so cross the path of Blue Cell and directly towards oncoming Yellow Cell. In the darkness, B-52F-105-BO, 57-0047, and B-52F-70-BW, 57-0179, both of the 441st Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing, attached to the 3960th Strategic Wing, collide, killing eight crew, with four survivors, plus one body recovered. The four are located and picked up by an HU-16A-GR Albatross amphibian, 51-5287 (?), but it is damaged on take-off by a heavy sea state and those on board have to transfer to a Norwegian freighter and a Navy vessel, the Albatross sinking thereafter. Another B-52 loses a hydraulic pump and radar, cannot rendezvous with the tankers and aborts to Okinawa. Twenty-seven Stratofortresses drop on a one-mile by two-mile target box from between 19,000 and 22,000 feet, a little more than 50 percent of the bombs falling within the target zone. The force returns to Andersen except for one bomber with electrical problems that recovers to Clark AFB, the mission having lasted 13 hours. Post-strike assessment by teams of South Vietnamese troops with American advisors find evidence that the VC had departed the area before the raid, and it is suspected that infiltration of the south's forces have tipped off the north because of the ARVN troops involved in the post-strike inspection.
• 25 June – A United States Air Force C-135A-BN Stratolifter, 60-0373, c/n 18148, out of McGuire AFB, New Jersey, crashed after 0135 hrs. take off in fog and light drizzle from MCAS El Toro, California, USA. Pilot flew into Loma Ridge at 0146. 84 died. Aircraft was bound for Okinawa.
• 6 July - RAF Handley Page Hastings TG577 crashed after take-off from RAF Abingdon, England with 41 killed.
• 11 July - A USAF EC-121H-LO Warning Star, 55-136, of the 551st AEWCW, out of Otis AFB, Massachusetts, develops a fire in the number three (starboard inner) engine, attempts ditching in the North Atlantic ~100 miles E of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Night touchdown in zero-zero weather, while on fire, proves difficult, aircraft crashes and breaks apart. Of the 19 people on board, three crew members survive, 16 die. Seven of the crew bodies are never recovered.
• 10 August - A Virginia Air Guard L-19 Bird Dog crashes at Camp Pickett, Virginia, while flying a support mission for forces in summer field training, killing the crew. Pilot Capt. Laurence A. White and S/Sgt. Melvin D. Mangum, both of the Richmond Howitzers, are KWF when the liaison aircraft comes down near the Nottoway River reservoir.
• 10 August - A fire in a Titan II missile silo at Searcy, Arkansas kills 53 men, all of them civilians, in the worst accident in "U.S. space age defense" when a diesel generator catches fire, smothering the victims. The missile, fully loaded with liquid fuel, did not burn. Its nuclear warhead had been removed while the civilian workmen updated the physical plant of the complex. Two civilians were able to flee the fire area through an underground tunnel to the access rooms and launch center. "The fire probably burned less than an hour", said Capt. Douglas Wood, Public Information Officer for Little Rock Air Force Base, which commands the 18 Titan II silos ringing Central Arkansas, "but up to 12 hours later smoke was still billowing in the silo."
• 25 August – First Curtiss-Wright X-19A prototype, 62-12197, was destroyed in a crash at the FAA's National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center, Caldwell, New Jersey, (formerly NAS Atlantic City), when gearbox fails followed by loss of propellers at 0718:44 hrs EDT. Test pilot James V. Ryan and FAA copilot Hughes ejected in North American LW-2B seats as the now-ballistic airframe rolled inverted at 390 feet, chutes fully deployed in 2 seconds at ~230 feet. Elapsed time between prop separation and ejection was 2.5 seconds. Airframe impacted in dried out tidewater area after completing 3/4 of a roll at 0719. Crew suffers minor injuries from ejection through canopy. The program was subsequently cancelled. This will be the last airframe design from two of the most famous company names in aviation. Second prototype, reported in some sources to have been scrapped, survives at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, and is later recovered by the National Museum of the United States Air Force for preservation.
• 19 October - Sole prototype of the Convair Model 48 Charger, N28K, a privately-built contender for the counter-insurgency competition (first flown 25 November 1964) ultimately won by the North American OV-10 Bronco, crashes on its 196th test flight, owing to pilot error by its US Navy test pilot, and further development is abandoned.
• 19 October - Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5922, suffers second accident when the number one main propeller pitch actuator suffers a hydraulic fluid blow-by problem just prior to touchdown at the Vought facility at NAS Dallas, Texas. A ground loop results with substantial damage to the landing gear and wing. In 1966 the damaged wing is replaced with an undamaged unit from XC-142A No. 3, 62-5923, out-of-service since its own landing accident on 3 January 1966. 62-5922 returns to flight status on 23 July 1966.
• 22 October - Twelfth Lockheed U-2, 56-6685, Article 352, delivered as U-2A to the CIA 13 June 1956, converted to U-2C by September 1959, crashes during training flight, offshore Taiwan. Republic of China Air Force pilot Major Pete Wang had just completed 180-degree turn at high altitude when the aircraft went out of control, spun down, breaking up during fall. Pilot did not eject. Examination of Birdwatcher system telemetry showed that airframe first exceeded maximum mach and g limits, followed by maximum positive and negative g readings, and fluctuating fuel pressure, symptoms of a wildly-tumbling airframe that had probably lost its tail unit and wings. Loss of cockpit pressurization and indications of a flame-out followed as airframe descended from over 60,000 feet through 40,000 feet. After 40 seconds, transmissions were lost, indicative of loss of wire antenna. Canopy was not ejected and no evidence of an ejection attempt. Witnesses saw airframe strike the sea.
• 5 December – A-4E Skyhawk, BuNo 151022, of VA-56 on nuclear alert status, armed with one Mark 43 TN nuclear weapon, rolls off of elevator of aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), in the Pacific Ocean. The Skyhawk was being rolled from the number 2 hangar bay to the number 2 elevator when it was lost. Airframe, pilot Lt. D.M. Webster, and bomb are lost in 16,000 feet of water 80 miles from one of the Ryukyu Islands in Okinawa. Webster, from Warren, Ohio, was a 1964 graduate of the Ohio State University. No public mention was made of the incident at the time and it would not come to light until a 1981 Pentagon report revealed that a one-megaton bomb had been lost. Japan then asks for details of the incident.
• 28 December – CIA pilot Mele Vojvodich, Jr. takes Lockheed A-12, 60-6929, Article 126, for a functional check flight (FCF) after a period of deep maintenance, but seconds after take-off from Groom Dry Lake, Nevada, the aircraft yaws uncontrollably, pilot ejecting at 100 feet (30 m) after six seconds of flight, escaping serious injury. Investigation finds that the pitch stability augmentation system (SAS) had been connected to the yaw SAS actuators, and vice versa. SAS connectors are changed to make such wiring mistake impossible. Said Kelly Johnson in a history of the Oxcart program, "It was perfectly evident from movies taken of the takeoff, and from the pilot's description, that there were some miswired gyros in the aircraft. This turned out to be exactly what happened. In spite of color coding and every other normal precaution, the pitch and yaw gyro connections were interchanged in rigging."

1966

• 3 January - Third (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5923, suffers major landing gear and fuselage damage during landing on 14th Cat II flight at Edwards AFB, California, having logged only 14:12 hrs. Cat II flight time. Air Force decides to use wing from this airframe to repair XC-142A No. 2, 62-5922, which suffers major damage on 19 October 1965, other useful items are salvaged from airframe no. 3, and the cannibalized fuselage is scrapped in the summer of 1966.
• 8 January - A USAF Fairchild C-119C-25-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-2611, c/n 10600, en route from Windsor Locks-Bradley International Airport, Connecticut to Binghamton Airport, New York, suffers an uncontained engine failure. The crew decides to bail out. The first crew member gets out at an altitude of ~2000 feet. The captain and co-pilot were not able to exit in time. The airplane descends and crashes into a lakefront house near Scranton, Pennsylvania, also killing a boy on the ground.

XB-70 62-0207 following the midair collision on 8 June 1966 with Joe Walker's F-104N tumbling in flames in foreground.

• 17 January – A B-52G-115-BW Stratofortress, 58-0256, of the 68th Bomb Wing out of Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina, collides with a KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, 61-0273, c/n 18180, flying boom during aerial refueling near Palomares, Almería in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash, breaking bomber's back. Seven crew members are killed in the crash, two eject safely, and two of the B-52's Mark 28 nuclear bombs 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 in deep trench. Two of the recovered weapons are exhibited at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• 25 January – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7952, Article 2003, crashes near Tucumcari, New Mexico during test flight out of Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Bill Weaver survives, but RSO Jim Zwayer KWF.
• 17 February - Twelfth USAF production block Lockheed U-2, 56-6705, Article 372, delivered to the Air Force at Groom Lake, Nevada, April 1957; moved to 4080th SRW, Laughlin AFB, Texas, in June 1957; becomes prototype "hardnose" fall out sampling aircraft. Transferred to the CIA, October 1964, converted to U-2F by May 1965, assigned to Detachment G. Deployed to Detachment H, November 1965. Crashes this date at Taichung, Taiwan, killing pilot Capt. Charlie Wu Tse Shi. After apparent engine failure and shut down, Wu makes a glider approach but selects the shorter of the two airfields he can reach, lands downwind with a 15 kt. tailwind, misses threshold, drifts right, touches down on grass half-way down the field, bounces twice and crashes into farmhouse beyond the end of the runway. He is killed as is one in the house, four others injured.
• 25 February - Second Lockheed U-2, Article 342, 56-6675, modified as prototype U-2C in 1959, and as prototype U-2F in May 1961, crashes during aerial refuelling practice over Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Robert "Deke" Hall successfully ejects.
• 28 February – NASA astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett, original Gemini 9 crew, are killed while attempting to land their T-38A Talon in bad weather at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. See makes an instrument landing approach at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation's plant. Comes in too low and slow, hits the afterburners and crashes into the roof of a building.
• 8 June – Second XB-70A-2-NA Valkyrie prototype, 62-0207, crashes at Edwards AFB, California, following a mid-air collision with a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, NASA 813, previously 013, while the aircraft were in close formation for a photo shoot at the behest of General Electric. The pilot of the F-104N, Dr. Joseph A. Walker, late of the X-15 program, and Maj. Carl Cross, the copilot of the XB-70, are killed.
• 30 July – Lockheed A-12, 60-6941, Article 135, modified as an M-21, D-21 drone carrier for Project Tagboard, is lost during the fourth test over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California when the D-21 drone, 504, suffers asymmetrical unstart as it passes through bow wake of the mothership during launch at Mach 3.25, strikes the Blackbird, destroying right rudder, engine nacelle and most of the outer wing during separation. Lockheed employees, pilot Bill Park and launch control officer Ray Torick, both successfully eject, but Torick tragically drowns in a feet-wet landing. Skunk Works head Clarence "Kelly" Johnson subsequently scrubs M-21 launch program, saying "I will not risk any more test pilots or Blackbirds. I don't have either to spare." D-21s are modified to D-21B standard for air launch from underwing pylons of a pair of mission-adapted B-52H Stratofortress bombers.
• 8 August - First prototype Bell X-22A-BE, BuNo 151520, first hover flight on 17 March 1966, first STOL flight on 30 June 1966; crashed this date at Wheatfield, New York due to failure of a prop control - pilot Stanley Kakol, one other crew uninjured. The forward fuselage section was converted to a ground simulator and used by Calspan Corporation; other surviving parts were used for the other X-22A.
• 22 August - Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5922, returned to flight status on 23 July 1966 after wing replacement, is delivered to the U.S. Air Force at Edwards AFB, California for Cat II testing, but on this date during one the airframe's first flights at that base, a chip detector warning light for the number three propeller illuminates, so the engine is shut down and the prop feathered. Heavy braking during extended roll-out as a result of landing with the collective lever disengaged causes brake fires in the main gear pods. Damage takes until 2 September to repair.
• 2 September – A United States Navy Grumman F-11A Tiger of the Blue Angels aerobatic team crashes on the shore of Lake Ontario. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Dick Oliver, 31 years old, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, is killed.
• 7 September - Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5922, suffers failure of idler gear in in number three engine gearbox during a pre-flight run-up at Edwards AFB, California. Entire gearbox has to be replaced. Investigation reveals problem with inadequately-supported aluminum pin that serves as an axle for this gear, making misalignment and eventual failure inevitable, so a fix is designed and the starboard gearboxes of all XC-142s are modified.
• 5 October – Ryan XV-5A Vertifan, 62-4506, crashes at Edwards AFB, California, killing Air Force test pilot Maj. David Tittle. During hover, the aircraft began uncontrolled roll to left, pilot ejected at 50 feet (15.24 m), but chute failed to deploy.
• 8 October - Lockheed U-2C, 56-6690, Article 390, of the 349th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, develops technical problems while on high-altitude reconnaissance flight over North Vietnam, attempts to recover to base but crashes near Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. Pilot Maj. Leo J. Stewart ejects and survives. This is the only U.S. Air Force U-2 loss in theatre during the War in Southeast Asia. According to Chris Pocock's "50 Years of the U-2: The Complete Illustrated History of the 'Dragon Lady", the pilot became distracted and let the aircraft overspeed. He disconnected the autopilot but still could not bring the nose up. Ejecting safely at 46,000 feet, he was picked up by a rescue helicopter. As the airframe came down in Vietcong-held territory, Special forces were sent in to blow it up. This airframe was the 50th U-2 built, and the 30th and last one of the original U.S. Air Force production block.
• 26 October - A fire in a flare locker in Hangar Bay One of the USS Oriskany (CVA-34) beginning at 0728 hrs. spreads through the hangar deck and to the flight deck. Before the fires are extinguished two SH-2 Seasprite helicopters are lost, A-4E Skyhawk, BuNo 151075, is destroyed, and three others are damaged, as are Hangar Bays One and Two, the forward officer quarters and catapults, and 44 crew are killed.
• 29 October - A burning F-86H Sabre fighter of the 174th Tactical Fighter Group, New York Air National Guard, based at Syracuse, New York, crashes into two house trailers in a trailer park next to Route 28, Poland, New York, Nebraska of Utica, critically burning Mrs. Alberta Eaton, a 19-year-old pregnant woman, in one dwelling, who is blown 15 feet from the structure by the impact blast. She is transported to hospital with first and second-degree burns, state police reported. The second trailer was unoccupied at the time of the crash. The Sabre pilot, Capt. William R. Kershlis, Jr., 34, of Ithaca, who ejected safely, landing NE of Poland, telephoned his base at Syracuse to report that he seemed to be alright.
• 11 November - A USAF EC-121H-LO Warning Star of the 551st AEWCW, out of Otis AFB, Massachusetts, crashes in the North Atlantic ~125 miles E of Nantucket, Massachusetts by unexplained circumstances, approximately the same general area as the one lost 11 July 1965. All 19 crew members are KWF, bodies never recovered.
• 28 November – Second prototype Dassault Mirage IIIV, an experimental VTOL fighter design, first flown 22 June 1966, crashes this date. Project, running several years behind schedule, is canceled and plans to build additional prototypes dropped.
• 7 December – Grumman Mohawk OV-1B on photo mission crashed after engine failure then fire. Pilot and crewman ejected. Hanau, Germany.

1967

• 5 January – Lockheed A-12, 60-6928, Article 125, lost during training/test flight. CIA pilot Walter Ray successfully ejects but is killed upon impact with terrain due to failed seat-separation sequence. The Air Force-issue seatbelt failed to release properly. The aircraft had run out of fuel for a variety of reasons.
• 5 January – Martin MGM-13 Mace, launched from Site A-15, Santa Rosa Island, Hurlburt Field, Florida, by the 4751st Air Defense Squadron at ~1021 hrs., fails to circle over Gulf of Mexico for test mission with two Eglin AFB F-4s, but heads south for Cuba. Third F-4 overtakes it, fires two test AAMs with limited success, then damages unarmed drone with cannon fire. Mace overflies western tip of Cuba before crashing in Caribbean 100 miles south of the island. International incident narrowly avoided. To forestall the possibility, the United States State Department asks the Swiss Ambassador in Havana to explain the circumstances of the wayward drone to the Cuban government. The Mace had been equipped with an "improved guidance system known as 'ASTRAN' which is considered unjammable." (This was apparently a typo for ATRAN – Automatic Terrain Recognition And Navigation terrain-matching radar navigation.)
• 7 January – U.S. Navy P-2 Neptune on training mission with nine Naval Reservists on board, on out-and-back flight from the Naval Air Facility, Andrews AFB, Maryland, crashes in light rainstorm near Upper Marlboro, Maryland, killing all crew. Neptune disappeared from radar at 1107 hrs., impacting in wooded area, digging crater 10 feet deep, 30 feet wide, 100 feet long. Airframe completely disintegrates, said Lt. Cmdr. Don Maunder.
• 10 January – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7950, Item 2001, lost during anti-skid brake system evaluation at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Art Peterson survives.
• 27 January – Apollo 1 launchpad fire kills three U.S. astronauts. Apollo 1 is the official name that was later given to the never-flown Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) mission. Its command module, CM-012, was destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise at Pad 34 (Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral, then known as Cape Kennedy) atop a Saturn IB rocket. The crew aboard were the astronauts selected for the first manned Apollo program mission: Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee. Although the ignition source of the fire was never conclusively identified, the deaths were attributed to a wide range of lethal design hazards in the early Apollo command module. Among these were the use of a high-pressure 100 percent-oxygen atmosphere for the test, wiring and plumbing flaws, inflammable materials in the cockpit (such as Velcro), an inward-opening hatch that would not open in this kind of an emergency and the flight suits worn by the astronauts.
• 1 February – Rookie member of the Blue Angels U.S. Navy flight demonstration team, Lt. Frank Gallagher, of Flushing, New York, is KWF when his F-11A Tiger crashes during a practice flight ~16 miles NW of NAS El Centro, California. Fighter impacts in rugged desert terrain on a Navy test range. Assigned to the team only six weeks before, he is the fourth Blue Angels team member to die in an accident. Gallagher flew as the solo in the four-man formation and as number 6 in the full formation.
• 18 February – Second crash of a Blue Angels demonstration team jet in three weeks kills the newest team member, U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Ronald F. Thomsen, 28, when his F-11A Tiger impacts just 250 yards from the site of the accident on 1 February 1967. The Navy opened a crash investigation on 19 February into the crash ~16 miles NW of NAS El Centro, California, which killed the pilot only four days after he joined the demonstration team.
• 21 February - A U.S. Navy A-4 Skyhawk from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, newly returned from a tour off Vietnam, crashes into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Truxton Basnight near Virginia Beach, Virginia after the pilot ejects. The delta-winged attack jet cut a swath through trees and impacted the frame house, cartwheeled over the structure, throwing burning fuel into the home. Five civilians are injured, two critically.
• 5 March - U.S. Coast Guard HU-16 Albatross, 1240, out of St. Petersburg, Florida, deploys to drop a dewatering pump to a sinking 40-foot yacht, "Flying Fish", off of Carrabelle, Florida. Shortly after making a low pass after the sinking vessel to drop the pump, the flying boat crashes a short distance away, with loss of all six crew. Submerged wreck not identified until 2006.
• 23 March - Worst ground aviation accident of Vietnam War occurs at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam when traffic controller clears USMC A-6A Intruder, BuNo 152608, of VMA(AW)-242, MAG-11, for takeoff but also clears USAF C-141A-LM Starlifter, 65-9407, of the 62nd Military Airlift Wing, McChord AFB, Washington, to cross runway. A-6 crew sees Starlifter at last moment, veers off runway to try to avoid it, but port wing slices through C-141's nose, which immediately catches fire, load of 72 acetylene gas cylinders ignite and causes tremendous explosion, only loadmaster escaping through rear hatch. Intruder overturns, skids on down runway on back, but both crew, Capt. Frederick Cone and Capt. Doug Wilson, survive, crawl out of smashed canopy after jet stops. Some of ordnance load of 16 X 500 lb. bombs and six rocket packs go off in ensuing fire. Military Airlift Command crew killed are Capt. Harold Leland Hale, Capt. Leroy Edward Leonard, Capt. Max Paul Starkel, S/Sgt. Alanson Garland Bynum, and S/Sgt. Alfred Funck. This is the first of two C-141s lost during the conflict, and one of only three strategic airlifters written off during the Vietnam War.
• 27 March – A Douglas A-4 Skyhawk of VA-72 out of NAS Cecil Field, Florida, crashes into a wooded area W of Lake City, Florida after pilot Lt. Cmdr. Robert W. McKay, 34, ejects from the crippled jet. "He suffered no apparent injuries", a Navy spokesman said. "He was picked up by the Highway Patrol and will be returned to Cecil Field on a Navy helicopter."
• 13 April – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7966, Article 2017, crashed near Las Vegas, New Mexico, after a night refuelling devolved into a subsonic high-speed stall. Pilot Boone and RSO Sheffield eject safely.
• 21 April – Fourth prototype F-111B, BuNo 151973, suffers flame-out of both engines at 200 feet after take-off, killing the project pilot Ralph Donnell and co-pilot Charles Wangeman.
• 24 April – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies during reentry of Soyuz 1 – parachute lines tangled during re-entry. Crashed to ground. First person to die while on a space mission.
• 25 April - A USAF EC-121H-LO Warning Star, 53-549, of the 551st AEWCW, out of Otis AFB, Massachusetts, ditches in the North Atlantic ~one mile off of Nantucket, Massachusetts, just after having taken off from that base. One survivor, 15 crew KWF. Five bodies were not recovered. Col. James P. Lyle, the Commander of the 551st AEW&C Wing to which all the aircraft and crew members were assigned, was the pilot. Colonel Lyle had been assigned to take over that command nine months earlier. It was he who presented each of the next of kin of 11 November 1966 crash victims with the United States Flag during that memorial service.
• 10 May - First (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5921, crashes on 149th flight during simulated downed-pilot recovery mission test. Rapid descent from 8,000 feet to avoid ground-fire ends badly when aircraft pitches over violently at low altitude, impacting in heavily-wooded, marshy area at Mountain Creek Lake, near Dallas, Texas, killing three crew. Airframe destroyed by impact and post-crash fire. KWF are contract pilot Stuart Madison, co-pilot Charles Jester, and hoist operator John Omvig. Investigation finds cause to be failure of tail propeller control system, causing overspeed condition which generated unexpected and uncontrollable nose-down pitch.
• 10 May – Northrop M2-F2, NASA 803, during the 16th glide flight, crashes on landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, due to a pilot-induced oscillation coupled with misjudged height and drift. Airframe rolls over six times, footage used for television program "The Six Million Dollar Man". Pilot Bruce Peterson survives.
• 29 July - A deckfire on the USS Forrestal caused by an unintentional firing of a Zuni rocket by an electrical short-circuit from the underwing rack of an F-4 Phantom II at 1051 hrs. holes the fuel tank of an A-4 Skyhawk. Spilled fuel ignites and ordnance on the ready jets is set off by the blaze. Twenty-six aircraft are destroyed or jettisoned, 31 others are damaged, 132 crewmen die, 62 are injured and two are missing. The last major fire is extinguished at 4 a.m. on 30 July. See: 1967 USS Forrestal fire. Among lost airframes are A-4E Skyhawks, BuNos 149996, 150064, 150068, 150084, 150115, 150118, 150129, 152018, 152024, 152036, 152040; F-4B Phantom IIs, 153046, 153054, 153060, 153061, 153066, 150069, 150912; and RA-5C Vigilantes of RVAH-11, 148932, 149284, and 149305.

C-7 Caribou 62-4161 plunges to earth after being struck by U.S. Army artillery, 3 August 1967. Photo by Hiromichi Mine.

• 3 August – A USAF de Havilland Canada C-7B Caribou, 62-4161, c/n 99, 'KE' tailcode, of the 459th TAS, 483th TAW, plunges to earth minus its tail from low altitude after being hit by US 155 mm artillery "friendly fire" on approach to Đức Phổ Special Forces camp, Vietnam. Three crew killed, pilot Capt. Alan Eugene Hendrickson, co-pilot John Dudley Wiley, and loadmaster TSgt. Zane Aubry Carter. Dramatic photo of plunging aircraft taken by Japanese combat photographer Hiromichi Mine, who was himself killed in the line of duty 5 March 1968 from injuries suffered from a landmine.
• 9 October - Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5922, suffers major landing gear and fuselage damage during STOL landing at Edwards AFB, California, following a 28-minute functional check flight after incorporation of modified control system components. Crew uninjured. This was the 488th test flight of the XC-142 program, and it turns out to be the last one before the program is cancelled. Airframe not repaired.
• 15 October – NASA astronaut Clifton Williams, U.S. Marine Corps, suffers control failure in the T-38 Talon he was flying while en route from Cape Canaveral, Florida to Mobile, Alabama to see his father who was dying of cancer. Jet went into an uncontrollable aileron roll, Williams ejected but he was traveling too fast and was at too low an altitude, comes down near Tallahassee, Florida. Williams served on the backup crew for Gemini X and had been assigned to the back-up crew for what would be the Apollo 9 mission. This crew placement would have most likely led to an assignment as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 12. The Apollo 12 mission patch has four stars on it – one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission, and one for Williams.
• 15 November – On the 191st flight of the X-15 program, X-15 Flight 3-65-97, out of Edwards AFB, California, the third of three, 56-6672, suffers problems during reentry from 266,000 foot altitude, 3,750 mph mission. Airframe has massive structural failure, killing pilot Michael J. Adams, the only fatality in X-15s.
• 8 December – The first African-American NASA astronaut, Maj. Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., is killed in the crash of a Lockheed F-104B Starfighter, 57-1327 , of the 6515th Organizational Maintenance Squadron, while practicing zoom landings with Maj. Harvey Royer at Edwards AFB, California. Lawrence was flying backseat on the mission as the instructor pilot for a flight test trainee learning the steep-descent glide technique intended for the cancelled X-20 Dyna-Soar program. The pilot of the aircraft successfully ejected and survived the accident, but with major injuries. The F-104 they were flying came in too low and hit the runway. Royer ejected, but Lawrence was killed. He left behind a wife and one son.

1968

• 11 January – Lockheed SR-71B, 61-7957, Article 2008, one of only two dual control pilot trainers, is lost on approach to Beale Air Force Base, California, due to fuel cavitation induced engine failure. Instructor pilot Lt. Col. Robert G. Souers and student Capt. David E. Fruehauf eject safely.
• 21 January – A B-52G-100-BW Stratofortress, 58-0188, c.n. 4642256, of the 528th Bomb Squadron, 380th Bomb Wing, from Plattsburgh AFB, New York, carrying four hydrogen bombs crashes on the ice seven miles from Thule Air Base, Greenland at 1639 hrs. AST, 1 crew member killed; all four B-28 weapons are consumed in post-crash fire, however one bomb unaccounted for after debris is audited; extensive contamination of site and several relief workers exposed to radiation. See also 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash. This accident caused the Department of Defense to suspend Operation Chrome Dome, the carrying of nuclear weapons on non-combat missions.
• 11 February - U.S. Navy T-33B Shooting Star with a pair of Naval reserve aviators aboard departed in late morning from the Naval Air Station Alameda, California, for their home field at Naval Air Station Los Alamitos, near Long Beach, California. Attached to Reserve Attack Squadron 773, the two reservists, pilot Lt. Bruce C. Turnbull, 34, and Lt. Anthony V. Miller, 33, were completing a weekend-long training exercise drill. Departing runway 31 in dense fog, they flew straight and level for two miles and then struck the steel trusses of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, raining debris down on traffic on the bridge but miraculously causing no motorist injuries although several vehicles including a tanker truck were hit by fuel and parts. The bridge was closed for two hours resulting in massive traffic back-ups. The aviators' bodies were recovered when the cockpit section was raised on 14 February, found some 600 yards N of the span.
• 27 March – While on a routine training flight out of Chkalovsky Air Base, Kosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin (Seregin) die in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach. Gagarin and Seryogin were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square. It is not certain what caused the crash, but a 1986 inquest suggests that the turbulence from a Su-11 'Fishpot-C' interceptor using its afterburners may have caused Gagarin's plane to go out of control. Russian documents declassified in March 2003 showed that the KGB had conducted their own investigation of the accident, in addition to one government and two military investigations. The KGB's report dismissed various conspiracy theories, instead indicating that the actions of air base personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information, and that when Gagarin flew, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. His planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded that Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude to be higher than it actually was, and could not properly react to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.
• May - RAF Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C.1, XP444, of 70 Squadron, departing a successful deployment in Libya, makes a "flypast" at a small airstrip called Gott-el-Afraq, hits water tower, crashes, killing all 22 on board.
• 6 May – Astronaut Neil Armstrong ejects from Bell Aerospace Lunar Landing Research Vehicle No. 1, known as the "Flying Bedstead", at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, Ellington AFB, Houston, Texas, as it goes out of control. Had he ejected 1/2 second later, his chute would not have deployed fully. Armstrong suffers a bit tongue.
• 25 May - Tu-16 Badger, commanded by sub-Cmdr. Alexander Pliyev, crashes into the Norwegian Sea after a low pass by the aircraft carrier USS Essex. The bomber had flown by the ship just 15 meters above the sea.
• 31 May - JQF-104A Starfighter drone, 56-0733, 'QFG-733', (so modified and designated on November 29, 1961), of the 3205th Drone Squadron, suffers a severe class A landing accident at Eglin AFB, Florida. Repaired.
• 4 June – Lockheed A-12, 60-6932, Article 129, lost off of Okinawa during a functional check flight (FCF) following an engine change after deployment to Kadena Air Base in support of Operation Black Shield. Pilot Jack Weeks was killed while flying (KWF). One source gives date as 2 June.
• 19 August – Handley Page Victor K1 XH646 of No. 214 Squadron RAF collided in mid-air near Holt, Norfolk, United Kingdom in bad weather with a 213 Squadron English Electric Canberra WT325, all four crew members of the Victor died.
• 11 September – Second prototype F-111B, BuNo 151971, crashes into the Pacific Ocean killing Hughes pilot Barton Warren and his RIO Anthony Byland.
• 10 October – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7977, Article 2028, lost at end of runway, Beale Air Force Base, California after tire explosion and runway abort. Pilot Maj. Gabriel A. Kardong rode airframe to a standstill. RSO James A. Kogler ejected safely. Both survived.
• 11 October – Fifth prototype U.S. Navy F-111B BuNo 151974 crash landed at Point Mugu, California. Scrapped. Navy abandons the F-111B program completely and both houses of Congress refuse to fund production order in May 1968.
• 1 November – Força Aérea Brasileira Aerotec A-122 Uirapuru pre-production two-place trainer crashes, killing Centro Técnico Aeroespacial test pilot José Mariotto Ferreira, one of the Centre's most experienced pilots.
• 8 December – Lunar Landing Training Vehicle No. 1 crashes at Ellington AFB, Texas. NASA Manned Spaceflight Center test pilot Joseph Algranti ejects safely.
• 13 December – USAF B-57E Canberra 54-4284 of the 8th TBS, 35th TFW, has mid-air collision with C-123B-5-FA Provider 54-0600 over Xieng Khovang, southern Laos, all three crew of the B-57 KWF, pilot of C-123 survives bail-out, lands in tree, rescued by an HH-3, but six others are KWF.

1969

• 14 January - During an Operational Readiness Inspection aboard the USS Enterprise off Hawaii, a MK-32 Zuni rocket warhead attached to an F-4 Phantom II is overheated by exhaust from an aircraft starting unit and detonates, setting off fires and additional explosions across the carrier. The fire is brought under control promptly when compared with previous carrier flight deck fires, but 27 lives are lost, and an additional 314 personnel are injured. The fire destroys 15 aircraft.
• 21 February – First test launch of Soviet N-1 rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome, intended for Russian moon mission. Due to unexpected high-frequency oscillations in the gas generator, one of the pipes broke apart and a fire started. This fire reached the engine control system which at the 68.7 s of flight sent the command to shut down the engines. The rocket exploded at 12,200 m altitude, 69 seconds after liftoff. The emergency rescue system was activated and did its job properly, saving the mockup of the spacecraft. All subsequent flights had freon fire extinguishers installed next to every engine.
• 10 March or 14 March – Lockheed XV-4B Hummingbird, 62-5404, on conventional test flight out of Dobbins AFB, Georgia, suddenly entered rapid roll while climbing through 8,000 feet (2438 m), pilot Harlan Quamme, unable to recover, ejects, suffering minor injuries. One civilian on ground receives minor injuries as well.
• 12 March - The Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne test programme suffers a setback when the rotor on prototype #3, 66-8828, hits the fuselage and kills the pilot. The accident occurred on a test flight where the pilot was to manipulate the controls to excite 0.5P oscillations (or half-P hop) in the rotor. 0.5P is a vibration that happens once per two main rotor revolutions, where P is the rotor rotational speed. The accident investigation noted that safety mechanisms on the controls had apparently been disabled for the flight. The investigation concluded that the pilot-induced oscillations had set-up a resonant vibration that exceeded the rotor system's ability to compensate. After the investigation, the rotor and control systems would be modified to prevent the same problem from occurring again. The rotor blades and control system were stiffened, the mass of the gyro was increased, and the geometry of the rotor was adjusted.
• 11 April – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7954, Item 2005, crashes on runway during take off from Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Lt. Col. Bill Skliar and RSO Maj. Noel Warner escape without injury.
• 15 April – North Korean MiG-17s shoot down a Navy EC-121M Warning Star, BuNo 135749, 'PR 21', c/n 4316, of VQ-1, call sign "Deep Sea 129", over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 aboard. See EC-121 shootdown incident. KWF are pilot L/Cdr. James H. Overstreet; Lt. John N. Dzema; Lt. Dennis B. Gleason; Lt. Peter P. Perrottet; Lt. John H. Singer; Lt. Robert F. Taylor; Lt.JG Joseph R. Ribar; Lt.JG Robert J. Sykora; Louis F. Balderman, ADR2; Stephen C. Chartier, AT1; Bernie J. Colgin, AT1; Ballard F. Connors, Jr, ADR1; Gary R. DuCharme, CT3; Gene K. Graham, ATN3; LaVerne A. Greiner, AEC; Dennis J. Horrigan, ATR2; Richard H. Kincaid, ATN2; Marshall H. McNamara, ADRC; Timothy H. McNeil, ATR2; John A. Miller, CT3; John H. Potts, CT1; Richard T. Prindle, AMS3; Richard E. Smith, CTC; Philip D. Sundby, CT3; Richard E. Sweeney, AT1; Stephen J. Tesmer, CT2; David M. Willis, ATN3; and S/Sgt. Hugh M. Lynch, USMC.
• 5 May – USAF F-100D-70-NA Super Sabre, 56-3214, one of two 452nd TFS, 81st TFW, RAF Lakenheath, Super Sabres on gunnery mission over Holbeach Range, Cambs., UK, suffers engine failure, forcing pilot Capt. R.E. Riggs to eject. Fighter impacts into farmland, missing group of workers by 400 yards (370 m), airframe demolished in explosion, only fin and rudder assembly intact.
• 18 May – USMC KC-130F Hercules BuNo 149814, c/n 3723, of VMGR-352, collided head-on with F-4B BuNo 151001 of VMFA-542, MAG-13, from Chu Lai (both crew killed), while refuelling two F-4Bs of VMFA-314 over South Vietnam near Phu Bai. Two crew of F-4B BuNo 151450, survived after jettisoning bombs and ejecting, while the second F-4B recovered safely to Chu Lai. Lars Olausson states that the KC-130F was from VMGR-352, while Chris Hobson claims it was assigned to VMGR-152.
• 23 May – A drunken U.S. Air Force assistant crew chief, Sgt. Paul Adams Meyer, 23, of Poquoson, Virginia, suffering anxiety over marital problems, starts up a C-130E Hercules, 63-7789, c/n 3856, of the 36th Tactical Airlift Squadron, 316th Tactical Airlift Wing, on hardstand 21 at RAF Mildenhall and takes off in it at 0655 hrs. CET, headed for Langley AFB, Virginia. At least two F-100 Super Sabres from RAF Lakenheath, a C-130 from Mildenhall, and two RAF English Electric Lightnings are sent aloft to try to make contact with the stolen aircraft. The Hercules crashes into the English Channel off Alderney (5000N, 0205W) ~90 minutes later. In the last transmission from Meyer, to his wife, in a link-up over the side-band radio, he stated "Leave me alone for about five minutes, I've got trouble." There is speculation whether the Hercules was shot down. Some wreckage was recovered but the pilot's body was never found. Meyer had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly earlier in the morning in the village of Freckenham and had been remanded to quarters, but snuck out to steal the Hercules.
• 5 June – Crash of Rivet Amber, the U.S. Air Force's sole Boeing RC-135E, 62-4137, c/n 18477, lost over the Bering Sea near Alaska. Nothing was ever found of the aircraft or the 19 on board.
• 20 September – An Air Vietnam Douglas DC-4 (C-54D-10-DC Skymaster), XV-NUG, c/n 10860, collided on approach to landing with an American United States Air Force F-4 Phantom II near Da Nang, Vietnam. 77 died.
• 9 October – A USAF B-52F-70-BW Stratofortress, 57-0172, of the 329th Bomb Squadron, crashed about 1,000 feet beyond end of runway while doing touch-and-goes at Castle AFB, California. All six crew died in the 2345 hrs. accident as the Stratofortress exploded on impact.
• 25 October – Two United States Air Force Academy faculty are killed when their T-33A crashed and burned in a meadow near the main runway while landing at Peterson Field, Colorado. Pilot was Maj. Donald J. Usry, 32, of the academy faculty, and back-seater was Capt. Martin Bezyack, of the academy's athletic department.
• 16 December - U.S. Navy RF-8G Crusader, BuNo 145611, of Detachment 19, VFP-63, crashes into the Gulf of Tonkin ~60 miles E of Đồng Hới, killing pilot Lt. Victor Patrick Buckley, of Falls Church, Virginia, while returning to the USS Hancock from a photographic reconnaissance mission. Cause of loss thought to be accidental.
• 18 December – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7953, Article 2004, crashes near Shoshone, California during test flight out of Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Lt. Col. Joe Rogers and RSO Lt. Col. Gary Heidelbaugh eject safely.
• 22 December – A United States Navy F-8 Crusader of VF-194 crashes into hangar at NAS Miramar, California during emergency landing, killing 14 and injuring 30. Pilot ejected safely. Five other fighters, including two F-4s, are damaged in the repair facility fire that ensues. Helicopters and military and civilian ambulances were used to transport the injured to Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego.
• 22 December – A USAF F-111A, 67-0049, c/n A-94, crashes near Nellis AFB, Nevada, killing both crew, when starboard wing fails in flight, wing carry-through box failure, resulting in the fifth grounding order since the type entered service. Fifteen F-111s have crashed to this point.

1970

• 10 January - Developmental prototype Indian Air Force HAL HF-24 Marut Mk. IR HF 032, equipped with reheat, crashes just after takeoff, killing India's finest test pilot, Suranjan Das. Failure of one engine and partial failure of the second was rumored, but official inquiry attributes loss to a malfunctioning canopy locking system. Reheat trials do not resume until 1972, using second prototype BD 884. Reheat upgrades are subsequently abandoned.
• 3 April – A USAF B-52D-60-BO Stratofortress, 55-089, c/n 464-17205, of the 26th Bomb Wing caught fire and crashed during landing at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, skidding into a brick storage building containing 25,000 gallons of jet fuel. Heroic efforts by crash crew save all nine on board, although one suffered broken limbs, and three firefighters were injured. One of the eight jet engines ran for forty minutes following crash.
• 16 April – US Navy TA-4F Skyhawk from NAS Oceana, Virginia, and USAF T-39A-1-NA Sabreliner, 61-0640, c/n 265-43, en route from Shaw AFB, South Carolina to Langley AFB, Virginia, collided in mid-air, the T-39 coming down over residential area of Weldon, North Carolina, but no one on the ground was injured and wreckage missed homes. Skyhawk crew, Lts. George D. Green, 27, and Walter G. Young, 27, both of Virginia Beach, Virginia, were killed as it came down in a swamp area ~20 miles away, near Enfield, North Carolina. Pilot Col. Francis G. Halturewicz, of the Sabreliner, was credited with minimizing ground damage as he jettisoned most of its fuel before impact. Killed were Col. Ivey J. Lewis, Stockton, California, Halturewicz, Maj. Ronald L. Edwards, and T. Sgt. Joseph R. Brown, all of MacDill AFB, Florida.
• 28 April – A USAF F-4 Phantom II being ferried from Robins AFB, Georgia to Torrejon Air Base, Spain, was disabled by a severe thunderstorm, forcing the crew to eject at 36,000 feet 150 miles E of Charleston, South Carolina, suffering minor injuries from hail while descending. Pilot Capt. Daniel Heitz, 25, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and navigator Lt. MacArthur Weston, 28, of Jacksonville, North Carolina are spotted by rescue aircraft, and are recovered after two hours in the water by the oil tanker Texaco Illinois, diverted from 8 miles away.
• 10 May – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7969, Article 2020, crashed near Korat RTAFB, Thailand, after a refuelling resulted in a subsonic high-speed stall. Pilot Lawson and RSO Martinez eject safely.
• 12 May - Indian Air Force prototype HAL HF-24 Marut HF 001, BR 461, is lost due to unknown circumstances in the sea off of Goa while on routine ferry flight. Squadron Leader K. L. Narayan is lost with aircraft.
• 22 May – A USAF T-33A of the 1st Composite Wing, Andrews AFB, Maryland, crashes just short of the north runway on approach to that base, killing pilot Maj. John H. McDowell Jr., 37, Clinton, Maryland, and Lt. Edwin D. Billmeyer, 24, of Baltimore, Maryland, and injuring three motorists on the ground.
• 24 May – A USAF C-5A Galaxy makes an emergency landing at Dobbins AFB, Georgia, suffering an electrical malfunction that knocks out landing lights, causes minor damage to the nosegear and flattens four of 28 tires.
• 27 May: A USAF C-5A Galaxy, 67-0172, c/n 500-0011, catches fire while taxiing at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, due to an electrical fire in the cargo compartment. Five crew escape, but seven firefighters suffer minor injuries fighting blaze. Aircraft destroyed.
• June - RAF Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C.1, XP441, of 114 Squadron, written off during training accident at RAF Benson, when aircraft bounces heavily during three-engine approach, attempts a go-around, but pilot inexpertly retracts the flaps, stalls, comes down in Mr. Passey's junk yard in the village of Benson. Crew, remarkably, is uninjured.
• 6 June: A USAF C-5A Galaxy, 68-0212, c/n 500-0015, fifteenth off the production line, but first to be delivered to any operational Military Airlift Command wing, loses one tire and blows another on landing at Charleston AFB, South Carolina for the 437th MAW.
• 17 June – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7970, Item 2021, collides with KC-135Q tanker 20 miles E of El Paso, New Mexico. Pilot Buddy Brown and RSO Mort Jarvis eject safely. Tanker limps back to Beale Air Force Base, California.

Lt. (j.g.) William Belden, ejects from an A-4E Skyhawk on the deck of the USS Shangri-La circa 29 July 1970. Photo by Photographers Mate Keith Guthrie of Palatka, Florida. Both pilot and Skyhawk recovered. Navy photo NH-90350

• 27 June – Rawalpindi, Pakistan, L-19 Bird Dog of No.4 Army Aviation Squadron, Dhamial Air Base, piloted by Major Tahir Mahmood Jilani, with Observer Captain Noor Mohammed, went missing, while on search and recovery mission to locate a drowned military officer Captain Bahadur's body, over the mighty river Indus near Kalabagh-Khushal Garh area. No debris or bodies were located, in the very extensive ground and aerial search that followed, however.
• Circa 29 July – Lt. (j.g.) William Belden, 23, of Racine, Wisconsin, ejects from an A-4E Skyhawk on the deck of the USS Shangri-La in the western Pacific. Pilot recovered shaken but unhurt by helicopter; Skyhawk later recovered from carrier catwalk.
• 30 July – USMC KC-130F Hercules, BuNo 150685, c/n 3728, of VMGR-152, crashed at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Lake Forest, California during misjudged maximum effort landing – wings broke, fuselage ended up overturned, burned.
• 5 August – A USAF F-4 Phantom II of the 36th TFW, Bitburg, Germany, TDY to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, crashes on a gunnery range 25 miles from Zaragoza, killing pilot Capt. Charles A. Baldwin, 28, of Charleston, West Virginia, and navigator Capt. Stephen N. Smith, 27, of Pinebrook, New Jersey.
• 25 August - A TF-104G Starfighter, 27+30, c/n 5732, of MFG 1, Marineflieger, downed by engine failure due to FOD, shortly after take-off from Jagel Air Base at Glücksburg in northern West Germany, both crew ejecting safely. Although the cause of the crash was not immediately known, a spokesman said it might have been struck by a bird in flight. This was the 122nd West German Starfighter crash since the type entered service in 1961.
• 11 November -A USAF F-4 Phantom II crashes in the North Sea after an engine fire. Both crew eject. Capt. Johnny Jones, 28, of Snow Hill, North Carolina, and Capt. David Allen, 27, of Darien, Connecticut are rescued by helicopter, officials at Ruislip, England said.
• 15 November – US Navy S-2 Tracker crashes at Fort Dix, New Jersey killing four. Wreckage found on 16 November in wooded area off Range Road. Killed were pilot Navy Lt. J.G. James K. Larson, 24, of Milltown, New Jersey, co-pilot 1st Lt. (USMC) Carleton C. Perine, 25, of Orange, New Jersey, and passengers Navy Airman Apprentice Robert Suttle, 20, of Bricktown, New Jersey, and Navy Airman Apprentice Gary B. Warner, 19, of Central Bridge, New York.
• 16 November – A U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom II crashed in the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles E of the Virginia Capes shortly after launch from the carrier USS Forrestal, CVA-59. Two crew, out of NAS Oceana, Virginia, are lost, the Navy reported 17 November. Pilot was Lt.j.g. John Dale O'Connor, and RSO was Lt.j.g. Thomas F. Hanagan, both of Virginia Beach, Virginia. They were attached to a fighter squadron based at NAS Oceana at Virginia Beach.
• 15 December - Royal Air Force Canberra B(I)8 of No 3(F) Squadron crashed at RAF Akrotiri Cyprus while on detachment from Squadron base at RAF Laarbruch, Germany. On approach to Akrotiri runway pilot elected to carry out an over shoot. When both engines were throttled up the starboard engine responded and increased power; port engine failed to respond. The effect of this was the aircraft 'cartwheeled' and port wing hit the ground killing both crew and passenger. Pilot F/O R.Ellis, Navigator F/O R MacMillan, one passenger Senior Aircraftman Kim Petty-Fitzmaurice.
• 30 December - Prototype Tomcat, F-14-01-GR, 157980, suffers hydraulic fluid leak on second flight, crew attempts return to Grumman plant at Calverton, New York, but loses flight controls just before crossing airfield threshold, both crew eject as airframe plunges into woods short of runway. Footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfM5FxnWPm4

1971

• 7 January – An unarmed USAF B-52C-45-BO Stratofortress, 54-2666, of the 99th BW, Westover AFB, Massachusetts, crashed into Lake Michigan near Charlevoix, Michigan during a practice bomb run, exploding on impact. Only a small amount of wreckage, two life vests, and some spilled fuel was found in Little Traverse Bay. Bomber went down six nautical miles from the Bay Shore Air Force Radar Site. Nine crew KWF.

Test pilot Stuart Present ejects safely from crashing LLTV (NASA), 29 January 1971.

• 17 January (Covington County, Alabama) US Army UH-1 crashes during training mission. Two crew members died in the accident. 19 year old Warrant Officer Harold Calvin Wilson Jr. of Covington. Kentucky was the pilot.
• 29 January – A Lunar Landing Training Vehicle crashes at Ellington AFB, Texas. NASA test pilot Stuart Present ejects safely.
• 2 February – Two USAF crew are found dead in the escape module after their F-111 crashes near Mandeville, Louisiana three weeks earlier. A parachute was found hanging from a nearby tree, but it did not deploy in time to save the airmen.
• 26 February - A Luftwaffe F-104G Starfighter, 22+64, c/n 7145, of Detachment Deci, crashes during a gunnery training flight on the Fransca range over the Italian island of Sardinia after its pilot parachutes to safety, the defense ministry said, making it the 128th crash of the type since entering German service in 1961. Engine failure due to FOD.
• 15 April - Sergei Nikolayevich Anokhin, Russian engineer and former Cosmonaut (1 April 1910 - 15 April 1986), is injured in the crash of a Tupolev Tu-16 into the Aral Sea while the bomber was flying parabolas for zero-G tests of the engine of the Molniya Block L upper stage, to study why the stage was continually failing to restart in earth orbit.
• 23 April – A USAF F-111E, 67-0117, c/n A1-162/E-3, out of Edwards AFB, California, crashes in a rocky area of the Mojave Desert 12 miles S of Death Valley National Monument during test flight, both crew, pilot Maj. James W. Hurt, 34, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and WSO Maj. Robert J. Furman, 31, of New York City, killed when parachute on escape module fails to open until just before ground impact. Both bodies were inside the escape module when it is found on Saturday, 24 April. Aircraft experienced trouble at 6,000 feet. This was the 18th crash of the type since entering service and the second fatal accident this year when the module chute failed to properly deploy. All F-111s are grounded on Thursday 30 April after it is determined that the recovery chute compartment door failed to separate making crew escape impossible. This was the sixth grounding order for the type since it entered operation. Grounding order lifted 8 June 1971 during which time the panel that failed in this accident was replaced.
• 6 June – USMC F-4B-18-MC Phantom II, BuNo 151458, of VMFA-323, en route from NAS Fallon, Nevada to MCAS El Toro, California, has mid-air collision with Hughes Airwest Flight 706, DC-9-31, N9345, out of Los Angeles International Airport, at 1811 hrs. over the San Gabriel Mountains, N of Duarte, California. Collision at 15,150 feet altitude killed F-4 pilot 1st Lt. James R. Phillips, 28, of Denver, Colorado (inoperable canopy release), the RIO ejecting and landing near Azusa, California. All 44 passengers and five crew members were killed aboard the DC-9, which impacted into a remote canyon of Mt. Bliss approximately three miles N of the city of Duarte. The wreckage of the F-4B fighter landed in another canyon approximately .75 miles SE of the DC-9's crash site. Although visibility was good, with no clouds, both crews failed to see and avoid each other. The Airwest DC-9 jetliner was under radar control, but the F-4B fighter was flying with an inoperable transponder that made it invisible on air traffic control radar screens. The RIO, Lt. Christopher E. Schiess, 24, of Salem, Oregon, admitted to inquiry board that the F-4B had performed a 360-degree slow roll about a minute before the collision. One of the early leaders of campus antiwar activism, Prof. Arnold Saul Kaufman, at the University of Michigan in 1965, now Philosophy professor at UCLA, was killed aboard the DC-9.
• 30 June – The crew of Soyuz 11, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov, are killed after undocking from space station Salyut 1 after a three-week stay. A valve on their spacecraft accidentally opens when the service module separates, letting their air leak out into space. The capsule reenters and lands normally, and their deaths are only discovered when it is opened by the recovery team. Technically the only fatalities in space (above 100 km).
• 27 July - Indian Air Force production HAL HF-24 Marut Mk. 1, flown by Wing Commander J. K. Mohlah, crashes just after takeoff at Bangalore, pilot KWF.
• 30 July - At ~1400 hrs., a Japanese Air Self Defense Force F-86F Sabre, 92-7932, collides in mid-air at FL280 with All Nippon Airways Flight 58, a Boeing 727-281, JA8329, on regional flight between Sapporo and Tokyo-Haneda. Student pilot was not watching out for other traffic in the training area, and when the instructor warns him to break away from approaching jetliner, it is too late, the Sabre's right wing striking the 727's left horizontal stabilizer, all seven crew and 155 passengers on the Boeing are killed, wreckage coming down near Shizukuishi. F-86F crew ejects. All Japanese military aircraft are immediately grounded while investigation takes place.
• 11 September – Lockheed C-121 of the 167th Aeromedical Transport Squadron, West Virginia Air National Guard, carrying five state governors to a conference in Puerto Rico, experiences engine problems, force-lands at Homestead AFB, Florida. Governors of Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, Texas and Utah, transfer to another aircraft to continue flight.
• 28 September – A United States Navy P-3 Orion, on patrol over the Sea of Japan, is fired on by a Soviet Sverdlov class cruiser in international waters. The P-3 was checking a group of Soviet Navy ships cruising off the shore of Japan when crew members reported seeing tracer rounds fired well ahead of the Orion. Immediately following the incident, authorities recalled the P-3 to its base at MCAS Iwakuni, and all surveillance craft were pulled back five miles.
• 29 September – A USAF C-5A Galaxy of the 443rd Military Airlift Wing, Altus AFB, Oklahoma, one of six used for training, had its number one (port outer) engine tear off the pylon while advancing take-off power before brake release, setting the wing on fire. The crew evacuated safely within 90 seconds and the fire was extinguished by emergency equipment. The engine had flown up and behind the Galaxy, landing some 250 yards to the rear. The Air Force subsequently grounded six other C-5s with similar flight hours and cycles. Further investigation found cracks in younger C-5s and the entire fleet was grounded.
• 12 October – A Royal Air Force F-4K Phantom II on a training mission crashes into a farm house near Holstebro, Denmark, killing a woman and her child. Police and rescuers who rushed to the scene could do nothing to save them from the burning house. The fighter crew of two parachutes to safety.
• 19 October – Grumman E-2B Hawkeye and Ling-Temco-Vought A-7B Corsair II, both from the USS Midway, CVA-41, collide over the Sea of Japan, with E-2 crashing near the stern of the carrier, all five crew lost. A-7 pilot ejected safely, picked up by helicopter from MCAS Iwakuni in good condition.
• 29 October – A USAF T-33A crashes near Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, both crew ejecting before the airframe impacted in a sugar cane field; one seriously injured, one with minor injuries.
• November – Two ex-U.S. Navy Sikorsky SH-34J Seabats, BuNos. 143934, c/n 58-698, and 143941, c/n 58-722, obtained by Uruguay's Aviación Naval (Naval Aviation) in October 1971 as A-061 and A-062, collide in midair during a public demonstration over a crowded beach, killing eight, over thirty injured, both airframes destroyed.
• 7 November – A USAF F-4 Phantom II and a USAF F-106A-130-CO Delta Dart, 59-0125, of the 84th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Hamilton AFB, California, suffer mid-air and crash in isolated areas near Nellis AFB, Nevada. All three crew eject and survive. F-4 crew, Maj. Henry J. Viccellio and Maj. James A. Robertson, okay. Phantom comes down 35 miles from Caliente, Nevada, Delta Dart attempts recovery to Nellis but pilot Maj. Clifford L. Lowrey ejects eight miles NE of base.

1972

• 19 February – C-130E 62-1813, c.n. 3775, of the 16th Tactical Airlift Training Squadron, mid-air collision with Cessna T-37 from Biggs AFB, Texas, 6 km NE of Little Rock, Arkansas – four killed on Hercules. Two Tweet pilots eject safely.
• 14 March – Two F-4 Phantom IIs have mid-air collision over the town of El Buste, Spain, about 30 miles from the joint US-Spanish base at Zaragoza. All four crewmen are KWF. Debris showered down onto the town, damaging communications and starting several roof fires, but no injuries to townspeople. Aircraft were returning to base in strong winds and broken clouds after a routine gunnery mission.
• 31 March – Twenty minutes after take-off from McCoy AFB, Florida, a USAF B-52D-80-BO Stratofortress, 56-0625, of the 306th Bomb Wing, suffers an in-flight fire in engine number seven which spreads to starboard wing; attempts emergency landing at McCoy, crashes one quarter mile short of runway, killing six on board and one civilian on the ground, injuring eight civilians on the ground, destroys four houses.
• 8 April – Hawker-Siddeley Andover C.1, XS609, c/n Set 16, bound for the United Kingdom, carrying 18-man paratroop exhibition team, crashes on take-off at Siena, Italy, digging in starboard wingtip before skidding 300 yards across airfield and catching fire. Four killed, four injured, of 21 on board, most escaping before fuel tank ignited. Dramatic photo, distributed worldwide, showed aircraft at almost 90 degree angle from ground with wingtip digging in.
• 14 April – Marine reserve pilot Capt. Anthony McCarthy is killed in Friday night accident when he ejects from his A-4 Skyhawk after tire failure on landing at MCAS El Toro, California after flight from homebase at NAS Alameda, California. Although he clears the airframe before it veers off the runway and into a fuel truck, "authorities said the pilot bounced several times on the runway after ejecting."
• 15 April or 16 April – A Marine Corps Reserve pilot, Maj. Edward Townley, 40, of Alameda, California, ejects safely from his A-4 Skyhawk as it exploded over the surf at Newport Beach, California in front of hundreds of beachgoers during the weekend, a spokesman at MCAS El Toro, California said. The pilot was based at NAS Alameda.
• 10 May – Vietnam People's Air Force MiG-19 (Shenyang J-6) of the 925th Fighter Regiment, piloted by Nguyen Manh Tung, runs out of fuel after CAP mission, deadsticks from altitude of 1,400 meters, descends too rapidly, and overruns runway at Yen Bai airfield, North Vietnam, overturning and exploding, killing pilot instantly.
• 4 June – United States Air Force Thunderbirds suffer their first fatal crash at an air show during Transpo 72 at Dulles International Airport. Major Joe Howard flying Thunderbird 3, F-4E-32-MC Phantom II, 66-0321, experiences a loss of power during a vertical maneuver. Pilot breaks out of the formation just after it completes a wedge roll and was ascending at ~2,500 feet AGL. The aircraft staggers and then descends in a flat attitude with little forward speed. Although Major Howard ejects as the aircraft falls back to earth from ~ 1,500 feet slightly nose low, and descends under a good C-9 canopy, winds blow him into the ascending fireball. The parachute melts and the pilot plummets 200 feet, sustaining fatal injuries in fall.
• 20 July – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7978, Article 2029, lost in landing accident at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. Pilot Capt. Dennis K. Bush and RSO Jimmy Fagg are unhurt.
• 28 August - Royal Australian Air Force Caribou transport aircraft registration A4-233 carrying three crew and 26 passengers crashed in a remote valley south of the town of Wau in Papua New Guinea. The wreckage of the aircraft was located on 31 August following an extensive search by military and civilian aircraft. Five of the passengers survived the crash but one of them died shortly after being rescued.
• 13 October – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, a Fairchild FH-227D, T-571, c/n 572, carrying a rugby union team from Montevideo to a match in Santiago, Chile, crashes in a remote region of the Andes on the Chile-Argentina border. Of the 45 on board, 12 died in the crash, five died by the following morning, and one died from his injuries a week later. The survivors were eventually forced to resort to cannibalism to live, feeding off the bodies of the dead that had been preserved by the freezing temperatures. On 12 December, the remaining survivors sent three of their own to find help. After sending one of the party back to the crash site to preserve rations, the remaining two found help. The 14 survivors remaining at the crash site were rescued in a mission that ended on 23 December. The story would spawn a critically-acclaimed book in 1974, along with several film adaptations.
• 30 October - First developmental model Hawker P.1127, XP972, crashes at RAF Tangmere.
• 24 November – Two USAF RF-4C Phantom IIs of the 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, Shaw AFB, South Carolina, suffer mid-air collision over the Atlantic Ocean about 30 miles off of Pawley's Island at ~1450 hrs. Two crew from one Phantom recovered 27 miles out to sea by UH-1N Huey, Save 53, of Detachment 8, 44th ARRSq, out of Myrtle Beach AFB, but two others including one officer of HQ 9th Air Force, Shaw AFB, are lost.
• 5 December – During an Aerospace Defense Command night training mission, F-102A-80-CO Delta Dagger, 56-1517, of the 157th FIS, South Carolina ANG, McEntire Air National Guard Base, South Carolina, collided with C-130E Hercules, 64-0558, of the 318th SOS, out of Pope AFB, North Carolina, during a simulated interception, over the Bayboro area of Horry County, east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. One killed in the Delta Dagger, Capt. Thomas C. Hagood, Jr. of Lexington, South Carolina, and all twelve aboard the Hercules perish. They were Lt. Col. Donald E. Martin, of White Oak, Texas; Maj. Keith L. Van Note, of Mason City, Iowa; Capt. John R. Cole, of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Capt. Louis R. Sert, of St. Louis, Missouri; Capt. Marshall K. Dickerson, of Chicago, Illinois; Lt. Douglas L. Theirer, address unavailable; T.Sgt. Robert E. Doyle, of South Hill, Virginia; T.Sgt. Claude L. Abbot, of Adel, Georgia; S.Sgt. Gilmore A. Minkley, Jr., of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Sgt. Billy M. Warr, Sr., of Sylmar, California; Sgt. Gerald K. Faust, of Oregon, Wiscconsin; and Capt. Douglas S. Peterson, of Harvard, Illinois. Some press reports list Conway, South Carolina, west of the crash site, as the location.

1973

• 7 February – A US Navy A-7 Corsair II of VA-195 piloted by Lt. Robert Lee Ward, 28, one of two on a routine training flight to Sacramento, California from NAS Lemoore near Fresno, California, crashes in Alameda, after breaking formation at 28,000 feet for unexplained reasons. Fighter strikes four-story Tahoe Apartments building at 1814 Central Avenue in the city center with fire spreading to other structures, killing pilot and ten civilians, 26 injured. Navy inquiry found evidence of a cockpit fire involving the pilot's oxygen hose, and that the in-flight blaze was "very near" Ward's oxygen mask. Speculation that smoking could have caused it, but no proof. Lawsuits for more than $700,000 were filed in connection with the disaster, including a $500,000 damage action filed in Alameda County Superior Court by owner of the demolished 36-unit Tahoe Apartments.
• 12 April – A United States Navy P-3C-125-LO Orion, BuNo 157332, c/n 185-5547, of VP-47 and a Convair 990, N711NA, '711', "Galileo", (formerly N5601G), belonging to NASA, collided while on final approach to NAS Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, California and crashed short of the runway. The planes fell on the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course and 16 of the 17 people aboard the two planes were killed.
• 20 June - Grumman test pilot Pete Purvis, flying F-14A-25-GR Tomcat, BuNo 157985, c/n 6, out of NAS Point Mugu, California, is hit by his own AIM-7E Sparrow missile. The missile had pitched up during launch and punctured the plane's fuel tank causing a fire. After losing control of the aircraft, both Purvis and his Weapons Systems Officer, William Sherman, eject successfully and survive.
• 4 August – First of two prototype Boeing YQM-94A Compass Cope B long-range remotely-piloted vehicle (RPV)s, possibly serial 70-1839, crashed during its second test flight. The United States Air Force decides not to order the Compass Copes into production. Second prototype is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

1974

• 8 February – A United States Air Force Boeing B-52G Stratofortress, 58-0174, of the 744th BS, 456th BW, veered off the runway during night take-off from Beale AFB, California, skidded 1,500 feet through a muddy field before overturning, destroyed by four massive explosions and fire. One crew member, the first pilot, was thrown free with severe burns, but seven others perished.
• 9 February – Two United States Air Force F-105s of the 457th TFS (TH tailcode), 506th TFG, 301st Reserve TFW, Carswell AFB, Texas, suffer mid-air collision, downing one aircraft ~1 mile from Holliday, Texas with the pilot ejecting, suffering broken right leg on landing, recovered by helicopter. Second F-105 recovers to Carswell despite damage, pilot uninjured.
• 9 February: A United States Air Force North American T-39A Sabreliner, 60-3506, returning to McClellan AFB, California collides with a USAF Boeing NKC-135A Stratotanker at 23,000 feet, over Peterson Field, Colorado, killing all seven on board the T-39. Sabreliner had experienced landing gear trouble, rendezvoused with NKC-135 for look-over, accidentally strikes rear fuselage and fin of Boeing. NKC-135 lands safely, was en route from Seattle, Washington to Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
• 5 March – A United States Navy RA-5C Vigilante crashes in the Gulf of Mexico 35 miles W of Tampa, Florida. Both crew eject, two chutes observed, but only the navigator is recovered, by a fishing boat.
• 5 March – A USAF Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker, 57-1500, of the 91st Air Refuelling Squadron, 384th Air Refuelling Wing, crashed and burned shortly after take-off from McConnell AFB, Kansas, killing two of seven crew. Air Force spokesmen reported that the aircraft was carrying 136,000 pounds of fuel when it crashed 3,000 feet from the main runway, after it apparently lost power.
• 5 March – A USAF Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker of the 7th Air Refuelling Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing, en route from Eielson AFB, Alaska to its homebase at Carswell AFB, Texas, suffered explosive decompression when a small window blew out at 35,000 feet at 1630 hrs. EST about 40 miles SE of Fort Nelson, British Columbia. One passenger of the 25 aboard died from the effects of the rapid decompression; others and eight crew okay. The tanker made an emergency landing at a Canadian Armed Forces Base at Edmonton, Alberta.
• 31 July – A United States Navy E-2 Hawkeye based at NAS Norfolk, Virginia, crashed on take-off from CGAS Elizabeth City, North Carolina during a touch-and-go, striking a maintenance facility, triggering a fire in a fibreglass and upholstery shop. Instructor pilot, three civilians killed, student pilot, and 12–18 others injured.
• 9 August - Royal Air Force MD Phantom FGR2 was involved in fatal mid-air collision with a Piper Pawnee crop-sprayer in Norfolk, England.
• 18 August – Lockheed C-141A Starlifter, 65-0274, of the 437th MAW, Charleston AFB, South Carolina, hits Mount Potosi at the 19,000 foot level, ~17 miles from destination, John F. Kennedy International Airport, La Paz, Bolivia, killing seven crew.
• 1 September – The Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk company demonstrator N671SA crashed while attempting to recover from a roll at too low an altitude during its display at the Farnborough Air Show, United Kingdom, killing its two crew.
• 15 September - On third day of Naval Preliminary Evaluation (NPE-1) testing, first prototype Sikorsky YCH-53E Sea Stallion, BuNo 159121, is destroyed at the Sikorsky plant at Stratford, Connecticut when it rolls onto its side and burns after one of the main rotor blades detaches during a ground run. It had first flown on 1 March 1974. Second prototype is grounded while accident is investigated, flight testing resuming on 24 January 1975.

See also

• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (pre-1925)
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1925–1934)
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1935–1939)
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1940–1944)
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1945–1949)
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1950–1959)
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 1975-1999
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (2000–present)
• List of C-130 Hercules crashes
• List of aircraft accidents at Eglin Air Force Base

External links

• AVIATION WEEK
• PlaneCrashInfo.com
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