This is a list of 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. For more exhaustive lists, see the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives or the Aviation Safety Network or the Scramble on-line magazine accident database. 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.
1861 21 July Gen. Irvin McDowell requests that a balloon be brought to the front at the Battle of First Manassas, Centreville, Virginia. Mary Hoehling tells of the sudden appearance of Pennsylvania aeronautMurphy, Justin D., "Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: Ann Illustrated History of Their Impact", ABC-CLIO, Inc.,, 2005, Santa Barbara, California, , , page 10. John Wise who demanded that Prof. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe stop his inflating of his balloon "Enterprise" and let him inflate his balloon instead. Wise had legal papers upholding his purported authority. Although Wise's arrival on the scene was tardy, he did inflate his balloon and proceeded toward the battlefield. On the way the balloon became caught in the brush and was permanently disabled. His balloon became lodged in trees, which eventually tore the fabric.Murphy, Justin D., "Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: Ann Illustrated History of Their Impact", ABC-CLIO, Inc.,, 2005, Santa Barbara, California, , , page 12. This ended Wise's bid for the position, and Lowe was at last unencumbered from taking up the task as Chief Aeronaut of the U.S. Army. "Lowe helped avoid panic after the First Battle of Manassas by ascending to a height of 3 miles and reporting that no Confederate forces were advancing on Washington."Murphy, Justin D., "Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: Ann Illustrated History of Their Impact", ABC-CLIO, Inc.,, 2005, Santa Barbara, California, , , page 11.
1895 4 July A large German military balloon burst at the German Army's Balloon Department grounds. Five balloonists were injured.
1907 28 May Lieuts. Theodore E. Martin-Leake, 28, and William T. M'Clintock Caulfield, 27, of the British Army ascend at 1630 hrs. from the military balloon factory at Cove, near Aldershot, in the balloon Thresher, witnessed by King Edward VII and Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu. For unknown reasons they do not descend a few hours later as planned, and the balloon is sighted over Weymouth at 2030 hrs., drifting towards the sea.Correspondents, "Lost War Balloon", Poverty Bay Herald, Gisborne, New Zealand, Saturday 20 July 1907, Volume XXXIV, Number 11120, Supplement. The crew drown when the balloon crashes in Lyme Bay.Who's Who of Ballooning at Ballooning History. Retrieved 19 March 2016. The trawler Skylark (Captain Johnson) discovers the partially submerged balloon off Exmouth on 29 May and after some difficulty brings it into Brixham where it is transferred to the custody of Customs officials. Caulfield's body recovered at Weymouth on 24 June. Leake's body never found.
2 June Captain of the Military Engineers Arnaldo Ulivelli's balloon departs from Ponte Milvio but is hit by lightning while flying above a military parade in Rome. He suffers from broken bones and burns as his balloon falls from , crashes on the Via Cassia, not far from the intersection with Via della Camilluccia, and dies four hours later in San Giacomo Hospital. A stone memorial has been erected at the crash site.Cronologia at [aerostati.it]. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
22 June A military balloon falls and explodes in Debrecen, Austria-Hungary. Its crew of two French Army officers and one Austro-Hungarian Army officer, and ten peasant men on the ground are killed. With thirteen fatalities it was the worst air accident until the 1913 Helgoland Island Air Disaster.
30 November The French Army's first airship, Patrie, is torn loose from temporary moorings at Souhesmes during a storm. After briefly touching down in Ireland, it is last sighted near the Hebrides.
1908 20 May Brazilian Armed Forces officer Lt. Juventino Fonseca died from injuries sustained when his balloon prematurely took off during military inspection due to a gust of wind. As his balloon was still tethered, it crashed into the ground over Manaus.Who's Who in Ballooning at Ballooning History. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
17 September Wright Model A, piloted by Orville Wright, crashes at Fort Myer, Virginia, killing Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge. During the flight, which had begun soon after 5 pm, a propeller broke and severed control wires. The trials continued the following year with a new smaller version of the Wright A which became the first military aircraft when purchased by the US Army. This aircraft served for two years and was retired on 4 May 1911. It is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., after having been accepted for exhibition on 20 October 1911. Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan, was later named for the first U.S. military aircrash victim. Wright was hospitalized until 31 October 1908 and spent several more weeks on crutches.Baker, David, "Flight and Flying: A Chronology", Facts On File, Inc., New York, 1994, Library of Congress card number 92-31491, , page 32. 16 October Pilot Samuel Franklin Cody takes off from Farnborough Common, Great Britain, in his British Army Aeroplane No 1, a biplane powered by a Antoinette 8V engine. His flight covers before ending in a crash-landing, which he survives.Gunston, Bill, OBE, "90 Years of UK Powered Flight", Air International, Stamford, Lincs, UK, November 1998, Volume 55, Number 5, page 306.
1909 16 May A French military balloon collides with electric light wires and is destroyed by fire at Paris.
3 SeptemberThe French army airship La République sets off from Chalais-Meudon for a flight to Lapalisse. After 62 miles (105 km), while over La Charité-sur-Loire, the motor overheats due to poor water circulation and has to be stopped immediately, requiring the crew to land in poor conditions at Policards, in the commune of Jussy-le-Chaudrier. Some local farm workers who are present catch the guide ropes but are unable to prevent the gondola from impaling itself on an apple tree, which damages the airship’s keel and gondola in several places. With this damage and given the loss of a quantity of gas, it is decided not to risk the République suffering the same fate as the Patrie (which was lost when a storm blew up while she was moored in the open due to mechanical problems), but to deflate the gas-bag immediately. The gondola and keel are sent on to Lapalisse for repairs and the envelope returned for repairs to Chalais-Meudon. 22 September Capt. Louis F. Ferber, (1862–1909), of the French Army, is killed when he drags a wing during a low-altitude turn in a Voisin biplane at a flying meet at Boulogne, France, overturning the machine.Jane, Fred T., "Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1913", Sampson, Low, Marston & Company, Ltd., London, 1913, Aerial Who's Who, page 3D.New York City, New York, "Taft Sends Condolences", New York Times, 22 May 1909. "Capt. Ferber was pinned to the ground."
25 September French Army airship La République crashes over Avrilly, Allier, killing its crew of four. It was caused by a broken propeller which sheared through the envelope causing rapid leakage. This crash marks the first military airship fatalities.
31 October Lieut. Pietro Rovetti is killed when struck by an airship propeller during takeoff in Rome.Almanacco Italiano 1911, p. 674.
5 November The United States Army Wright Military Flyer, serial 1, piloted by Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm with 2nd Lieutenant Frederick E. Humphreys as passenger crashes into the ground at College Park Airport, Maryland, while executing a sharp right turn. The aircraft had lost altitude due to engine misfiring and the aircrew had not taken account of their proximity to the ground when banking the aircraft to the right. Both officers were unhurt but the aircraft required repairs. The skids and the right wing had to be replaced.Correll, John T., "The First of the Force", Air Force Magazine, August 2007, page 48.
1910 12 July At the age of 32, Charles Rolls (of Rolls-Royce fame) was killed in an air crash at Hengistbury Airfield, Southbourne, Bournemouth when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft, and the eleventh person internationally. His was also the first powered aviation fatality in the United Kingdom.
20 August Lt. Marquis Vivaldi (also quoted as Lt. Pasqua Vivaldi), of the Royal Italian Army, is killed at Magliano, near Rome, in a Farman biplane. "In descending he lost control." The 28 January 1911 issue of Flight states that the "Motor stopped and machine was smashed; he was killed instantly.""L'estrange", "The Use of Accidents", Flight, Great Britain, 28 January 1911, Number 109, Volume III, Number 4, page 69.
3 October The first recorded collision between aircraft occurs at the Milano Circuito Aereo Internazionale meet held in Milan, Italy, when René Thomas of France in an Antoinette monoplane collides with Captain Bertram Dickson of the British army, the first British serviceman to qualify as a pilot, in a Farman biplane by ramming him in the rear. Both pilots survive but Dickson is so badly injured he never flies again.
3 December The first multiple fatality airplane accident in history happened at Centocelle, near Rome, when Lt. Enrico Cammarota and Private S. Castellani became the 26th and 27th people to die in an aircraft crash.Henry Villard, Contact! The Story of the Early Aviators (Courier Dover Publications, 2002) p241; "The Fatalities of Flight", by Victor Lougheed, Popular Mechanics (August 1911) p173 Their Farman biplane broke during a turn and they died in a military hospital. 30 December French aviator Lt. Jacques de Caumont, 28, is killed in the 50 hp prototype Nieuport III monoplane, at St. Cyr, this date, when he suffers loss of control.
1911 10 May First U.S. Army pilot casualty, 2nd Lt. George Edward Maurice Kelly (1878–1911), London-born, and a naturalized United States citizen in 1902, is killed when he banks his Curtiss Type IV (or Curtiss Model D), Army Signal Corps serial number 2, sharply to avoid plowing into an infantry encampment near the present site of Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The Aviation Camp (aka Remount Station) at Fort Sam Houston is renamed Camp Kelly, 11 June 1917, then Kelly Field on 30 July 1917, and finally Kelly AFB on 29 January 1948.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, , page 267. Airframe rebuilt, finally grounded in February 1914, refurbished, and placed on display in the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. Due to this crash, the commanding officer of Fort Sam Houston bans further training flights at the base, the flying facilities being moved to College Park Airport, College Park, Maryland in June–July 1911.Baker, David, "Flight and Flying: A Chronology", Facts On File, Inc., New York, 1994, Library of Congress card number 92-31491, , page 49. A replica of this airframe is preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
18 August