List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1950–1954)


This is a list of notable accidents and incidents involving military aircraft grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. Not all of the aircraft were in operation at the time. 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, exterior codes in apostrophes, nicknames in quotation marks, flight callsign in italics, and operating units.

1950

1950
5 January
13 January
26 January
11 February
13 February
15 February
22 February
7 March
15 March
15 March
;15 March : North American F-51D Mustang, 44-74896, flown by Lt. Edwin F. Gutt, strikes a building after landing at Las Vegas Air Force Base, Nevada, heavily damaging the airframe.
;16 March :Two F-84s being ferried to Greater Pittsburgh Airport in Pennsylvania were cruising at 33,000 feet when they ran out of fuel simultaneously. They were forced down in the rugged hills of Greene County, Pennsylvania near the town of Spragg. Each pilot crash landed on a different narrow, twisting two lane highway narrowly missing automobile traffic and several houses as they came in. Both aircraft were destroyed, but each pilot walked away from his aircraft with minor injuries.
17 March
22 March
22 March
26 March
5 April
7 April
11 April
23 April
1 May
11 May
12 May
23 May
25 May
13 June
16 June
, on 22 June 1950.
22 June
30 June
6 July
13 July
28 July
5 August
24 August
25 August
9 September
26 September
27 September
29 September
27 October
8 November
9 November
10 November
11 November
22 November
12 December
19 December
23 December

1951

10 January
11 January
15 January
21 January
28 January
31 January
14 February
13 March
14 March
17 March
23 March
3 April
5 April
5 April
;6 April :A USAF Grumman SA-16A Albatross, 48-0602, of the 5th Air Rescue Squadron, crashes into a concrete recreation center in Mount Clemens, Michigan, formerly used by the USO, and partially on a children's playground. School had not been let out and there were no children on the playground. Four of eight on the amphibian were injured. The plane "barely missed" a half dozen resort hotels as it crashed within three blocks of the downtown. Airframe to reclamation at Selfridge AFB on 23 April 1951.
8 April
25 April
27 April
6 May
18 May
19 May
8 June
13 June
15 June
18 June
21 June
23 June
23 June
30 June
8 July
31 July

Summer
13 August
18 August
21 August
22 August
26 August
flee as McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee strikes parked aircraft and explodes; 16 September 1951.
27 August
;3 September :"CLINTON, N. C., Sept. 3, UP – An Air Force B-26 bomber crashed and exploded in a desolate wooded area three miles south of here early today, trapping one helpless airman and burning him to death while three others floated to safety. Air Force officials withheld the name of the dead airman pending notification of next of kin. Capt. Irvin Rappaport, public information officer of the Ninth Air Force at Pope Air Force base , N. C., said he was not a member of the bomber's crew, but was riding as a passenger."
16 September
;25 September : Two North American F-86E Sabres in a flight of three from the 97th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 142d Fighter-Interceptor Group, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, flying from west to east out of Wallaceburg, Ontario, 25 miles S of Sarnia, touch wings in mid-air at ~10,000 feet and both crash, exploding about a mile apart on farms in Western Ontario. Both pilots are killed.
29 September
15 October
11 November
13 November
19 November
27 November
3 December
7 December
21 December
;22 December : DENVER AP – A two-engined B-25 bomber with eight persons aboard, including one woman, crashed in an East Denver residential Saturday night. No homes were hit and no one was killed. Two aboard the plane were injured. Lowry Air Base officials said the injuries were not believed to be serious. One motor appeared to burn as the plane came down on its belly about 400 yards from the nearest dwelling. The scene was less than a mile from where a four-engined B-29 crashed Dec. 3, killing eight crewmen and destroying or damaging five homes. The woman on the plane is a Waf. Air Force officials at Lowry Field said the plane was from Andrews Field, Maryland, and was taking off for Perrin Air Force Base near Sherman, Tex.”

1952

12 January
15 January
;19 January :Boeing SB-17G Flying Fortress, 44-85746A, built as a B-17G-105-VE, of the 4th Air Rescue Squadron, McChord Air Force Base, Washington, returning from a mission, clips a ridge in Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, 20 miles from Sequim, slides into a 2,000-foot valley, shedding parts and men as it goes. Three of eight on board are killed. Survivors are rescued by helicopter the following day. Much of the wreckage is still there.
21 January
24 January
29 January
6 February
19 February
22 February
3 March
21 March
21 March
3 April
4 April
15 April
27 April
9 May
9 May
5 June
13 June
;24 June :On the eighth test flight of the first Convair YB-60-1-CF, 49-2676, a flutter condition resulted in the trim tab disintegrating and the rudder suffering severe torsional wrinkles while flying at at. Replaced by rudder built for second prototype which never received one and never flew. As the Boeing B-52 project was succeeding, the Convair B-60 program was canceled and the two airframes were salvaged in 1954 for parts.
;30 June :A Royal Canadian Air Force bomber with four aboard goes missing in the Yukon. Still missing on 4 July.
;8 July :Israeli IAF/DF de Havilland Mosquito T.3, 2119, as Capt. Daniel Shapira demonstrates a take-off to Lt. Ze'ev Tavor it goes badly, airframe ending up in the weeds. Despite this, both pilots eventually become test pilots. This was the first Israeli loss of the type.
;10 July : A Boeing B-29-95-BW Superfortress, 45-21761, c/n 13655, converted to F-13A, crashes on the runway at Fairchild AFB, Washington, with ROTC cadets on board. There were no casualties, although the aircraft was a total loss and the hulk was later used by the fire department for practice fires.
;11 July :Seven of eight crew survive the crash landing of a Boeing SB-17 Flying Fortress, of the 10th Air Rescue Squadron at Anchorage, Alaska, when it fails to return from a search for an RCAF bomber, missing since 30 June with four aboard. The Fortress had apparently completed its six hour search sweep and was en route to Whitehorse when it crashed. The last radio message, shortly before noon, stated that they were over their search area in fair to good weather. The hunt for the B-17 began at 2015 hrs. when it had not returned by fuel exhaustion limits. An amphibian sighted the downed plane in the night and dropped food and sleeping bags. American parachutists jumped to the downed crew's aid on 12 July and three helicopters – two American and one Canadian – began moving survivors to Snag, Yukon territory, about 30 miles SW of the crash site. A seriously burned crewman was ferried by C-47 to Elmendorf Air Force Hospital at Anchorage. Two other survivors were not as seriously injured.
25 July
29 July
5 August
6 August
7 August
8 August
25 August
29 August
30 August
1 September
6 September
10 September
10 September
11 September
1 October
8 October
23 October
26 October
27 October
1 November
15 November
17 November
22 November
24 November
1 December
14 December
20 December
26 December

1953

5 January
8 January
12 January
13 January
15 January
31 January
31 January
7 February
;27 February :A Lockheed P2V Neptune, transiting from Cecil Field, NAS Jacksonville, Florida, to Port Lyautey, French Morocco, suffers engine failure in mid-ocean, ditches near, and guided by, U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Coos Bay, 800 miles W of Bermuda. Lt. Cdr. J. R. Bird, of Jacksonville, puts the bomber down in the lee of the ship in a 30 mile an hour wind. Four crew are rescued from the water and six taken off a raft from the plane. None are injured, including Frederic M. Horn, of Galesburg, Illinois, an electronics man. The P2V apparently stayed aloft for two hours after the initial distress message was sent. The Coos Bay was heading for Bermuda to transfer the crew to the cutter Barataria. The Navy said that they would be taken to New York. where Third Naval District coordinated the rescue.
;27 February :An engine on a Boeing B-29 Superfortress weather plane disintegrates over the Tokyo suburb of Tokorozawa and seven crew successfully bail out, the Air Force in Tokyo reports. "The crippled plane, on a routine training flight, presumably crashed in the Pacific ocean."
;27 February :The Associated Press reports from Seoul that the Air Force announced the crash of a Douglas B-26 Invader shortly after takeoff from a South Korean air base today. Three airmen were killed and the pilot injured.
;9 March :USMC Grumman F9F-4 Panther, BuNo 125199, 'WP 10', of VMF-223, piloted by Capt. William H. Bezzell, USMC, suffers apparent tailhook failure while coming aboard USS Bennington, operating off of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base during post-refit shakedown training, bounces into the air, sails through the nylon Davis safety net airborne, hits deck again and dives into the forward elevator well, landing on top of nose of another F9F-4 of the same unit on the lowered elevator. Quick reactions by hangar crew in flooding the area with foam and closing doors to the hangar bay averts disaster and no post-crash fire occurs. Pilot uninjured, and injuries to most of 40 crew involved are minor, but Airman Ricketts, who was underneath the Panther on the elevator, is seriously injured and is eventually discharged when his condition does not improve.
;12 March :A RAF Avro Lincoln, RF531, 'C', of Central Gunnery School, is shot down 20 mi NE of Lüneburg, Germany by a Soviet MiG-15 as it flies to Berlin on a training flight, resulting in the deaths of the seven crew members.
18 March
21 April
24 April
May
11 May
12 May
15 May
9 June
11 June
13 June
17 June
18 June
21 June
15 July
17 July
30 July
6 August
6 August
12 August
23 August
26 August
30 August
5 September
9 September
9 September
9 September
11 September
19 September
19 September
25 September
1 October
1 October
7 October
8 October

8 October
11 October
13 October
14 October
17 October
18 October
19 October
20 October
22 October
26 October

2 November
8 November
17 November
23 November
24 November
28 November
30 November
30 November
1 December
3 December
3 December
4 December
4 December
5 December
11 December
14 December
16 December
17 December
17 December
18 December
18 December
19 December
20 December
21 December
22 December
22 December'

1954

3 January
3 January
6 January
15 January
16 January

26 January
1 February
16 February
23 February
2 March
4 March
5 March
9 March
16 March
17 March
18 March
19 March
19 March
19 March
21 March
23 March
26 March
27 March
30 March
8 April
26 April
29 April
Post-April
7 May
7 May
;10 May :A North American F-86D Sabre of the 62d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, O'Hare Air Reserve Station, Chicago, Illinois, catches fire Monday night at 37,000 feet over Lake Michigan. The pilot, 2d Lt. Theodore R. Miller, 22, of Venice, California, bails out and is rescued about 0100 hrs. floating two hours in a raft off of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Miller was able to radio his situation to O'Hare ground controllers and his blip was watched on radar so the controllers directed the Coast Guard to the pick-up.
13 May
17 May
30 May
3 June
4 June
6 June
7 June
7 June
9 June
;11 June :A Vought F7U-3 Cutlass, BuNo 129647, crashes into a building at Naval Air Station Memphis, Tennessee, killing five but missing 100 sailors who left the structure three minutes earlier. Both the building and the airframe burned. The pilot and four on the ground die.
;14 June :A Grumman AF-2W Guardian crash lands in a bean field at Norwalk, Connecticut, but the pilot and two passengers escape injury. The anti-submarine "guppy" clips two power lines and is damaged in the belly landing. The Navy identifies those aboard as Lt, Edgar C. Alexander, 28, of Long Beach, California, pilot; and passengers Lee A. Colestock, 22, Photographer 3.c, of Eaton Rapids, Michigan; and James M. Key, 25, Aviation Storekeeper 1.c, Rock Island, Oklahoma.
;17 June :A USAF Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor from Hamilton Air Force Base, California, crash lands in the surf one mile NW of Ventura, California, Four officers escape with minor injuries. They are Lt. Col. Harry M. Thompson, 35, pilot; Capt. Owen C. Johnson, 32, co-pilot; and 1st Lt. Robert E. Shrider and 2d Lt. Orvil L. Cook, passengers, all of Hamilton AFB.
;27 June :American Airlines Convair 240, N94263, with 34 aboard, is struck from below while landing at Port Columbus Airport, Columbus, Ohio, by U.S. Navy Beechcraft SNB-2C Navigator, BuNo 23773, ripping loose the airliner's port engine. Captain J. C. Pollard and First Officer J. S. Myrick, 30, both of Nashville, succeed in putting the plane down. The Convair skids to a halt on the runway on its nose as the nose gear fails to extend, and rescue and fire crews extinguish the blazing wing, nose, and baggage compartment. All aboard survive. The SNB crashed immediately and exploded. Two dead aboard the SNB are identified by Dr. Carl E. Teterick, acting coroner, as Lt. Cmdr. John Hoerath, 37, of Westerville, Ohio, and Lt. Cmdr. Donald Gavin Edgar, 48, of Columbus. They were flying from Lafayette, Indiana, to Naval Air Station Columbus.
;27 June :Boeing KC-97G-25-BO Stratofreighter, 52-2654, of the 96th Bomb Wing, Altus AFB, Oklahoma, groping its way through dark and heavy overcast strikes Box Springs Mountain at 0308 hrs. PDT and explodes while diverting to Norton AFB, San Bernardino, California, from March AFB at Riverside, killing all 14 on board. Within 90 minutes, the 42d Air Rescue Squadron from March arrives on scene, five miles E of Riverside, to find no survivors. "The only Chicagoland victim of the crash was Staff Sgt. James R. Morgan, 33, of Anderson, Ind."

;1 July :Second of 13 North American X-10s, GM-19308, c/n 2, on Navaho X-10 flight number 7, crashes and burns after 8 minutes of flight out of Edwards AFB, California, when a fire develops on board.
;14 July :First prototype Handley Page Victor bomber, WB771, is lost when the tailplane detaches while making a low-level pass over the runway at Cranfield, causing the aircraft to crash with the loss of the crew. Attached to the fin using three bolts, the tailplane was subject to considerably more stress than had been anticipated and the three bolts failed due to metal fatigue.
;26 July :Lieutenant Floyd C. Nugent suffers landing gear problem in Vought F7U-3 Cutlass, BuNo 129552, of FASRON-2, aims jet out to sea and ejects, "only to watch the Cutlass, loaded with 2.75-inch rockets, fly serenely on, orbiting San Diego’s North Island and the Hotel Del Coronado for almost 30 minutes before ditching near the shore."
27 July
5 August
21 August
24 August
26 August
31 August
22 September
27 September
28 September
30 September
October
12 October
12 October
13 October
19 October
21 October
29 October
4 November
4 November
8 November
9 November
9 November
14–15 November
17 November
17 November
18 November
18 November
19 November
19 November
19 November
20 December
22 December