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. Combat losses are not included, except for a 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.
1940 5 January The early models of the Henschel Hs 129 suffer from heavy stick forces, amongst other problems, and on this date the Hs 129 V2 is destroyed when it fails to pull out of a dive. 6 January Bell XP-39B Airacobra, 38–326, modified from prototype XP-39, on test flight out of Buffalo, New York, suffers failure of main gear legs to retract fully, stopping short of flush stowage. Pilot, Wright Field P-39 project officer George Price, saves prototype with deft belly-landing, damage mostly limited to the propeller.Matthews, Birch, "Cobra!: Bell Aircraft Corporation 1934–1946", Schiffer Publishing Limited, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 1996, , , pp. 98–99.
10 January The Mechelen Incident, also known as the Mechelen affair, was an event during the Phoney War in the first stages of World War II. A German Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun, D-NFAW, piloted by Major Erich Hoenmanns, 52, base commander of Loddenheide airfield, near Münster with an officer, Major Helmuth Reinberger, on-board carrying the plans for Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), a German attack on the Low Countries, becomes lost and crash-lands in neutral Belgium near Vucht, in the modern-day municipality of Maasmechelen. This prompts an immediate crisis in the Low Countries and amidst the French and British authorities, whom the Belgians notify of their discovery; however the crisis abates relatively quickly once the dates mentioned in the plans pass without incident. It has been argued that the incident led to a major change in the German attack plan, but this hypothesis has also been disputed.
3 FebruaryUS Army Air Corps Chief of Staff Gen. Henry H. Arnold's personal staff transport, Northrop A-17AS, 36–350, c/n 290, 3-seat command transport, written off in accident this date.Bowers, Peter M., "Captain of the Clouds", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, July 1972, Volume 2, Number 4, p. 33.
3 February RAF pilot Peter Townsend, flying a Hawker Hurricane of 43 Squadron, downs Heinkel He 111, Werke Nummer 3232, 1H+FM, of Kampfgeschwader 26 (KG 26), on a shipping strike, piloted by Hermann Wilms, which crashlands near Bannial Flat farm, Whitby, the first German aircraft downed on English soil since a Gotha bomber at Harrietsham, Kent, on 18 May 1918. (Previous German aircraft had been downed during World War II, but in Scotland.) Luftwaffe observer Peter Leushake on the He 111 killed by gunnery, gunner and flight engineer Johann Meyer, gunner Unteroffizier Karl Missy both wounded.Townsend, Peter, "Duel of Eagles", Simon and Schuster, January 1971, , , Prologue. 7 February First Finnish loss of a Fiat G.50 Freccia occurs when FA-8 is destroyed in an accident. Sergeant Asser Wallenius forgets to open the main fuel tanks valve prior to take- off from Västerås Sweden. He crashes into trees and is severely injured. The plane is a total loss.
10 February First British Consolidated PBY Catalina, P9630 Consolidated 28-5, ex-NX21732, the sole Consolidated Model 28-5, sinks in a landing accident at Dumbarton after a flight from Rhu. Although salvaged, it never flies again.Legg, David, "Consolidated PBY Catalina: The Peacetime Record", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2002, , , pp. 26–27.
15 February Hawker Hector army co-operation biplane, the end of the Hawker Hart line, K9731, 'ZR-N', of No. 613 Squadron RAF, suffers engine problem on take-off from RAF Odiham, buries nose in an earthen berm.Thomas, Andrew, "Biplanes Over Calais", FlyPast, Key Publications, Stamford, Lincs., UK, May 2015, Number 406, p. 39.
20 February First fatal accident involving a Saro Lerwick flying boat occurs when Flt. Sgt. Corby attempts landing of L7253 of No. 209 Squadron RAF (209 Sqn) off Lismore Island near Oban in poor visibility. Aircraft stalls, bounces on water several times, starboard wingtip float breaks off, airframe capsizes. Water pours into hull through open windows, pilot Corby drowns but body recovered, three crew missing, two survive. Salvaged, becomes instructional airframe, later sinks in gale at RAF Wig Bay on Loch Ryan.Bussy, Geoffrey, " 'Forgotten' Flying Boat: Saro's Unfortunate Lerwick", Air Enthusiast, Stamford, Lincs, UK, Number 124, July–August 2006, p. 25.
11 March Second prototype Mitsubishi Navy Experimental 12-Shi Carrier Fighter, built at the Nagoya aircraft works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, equipped with a Mitsubishi Zuisei 13 engine, disintegrates at about 1030 hrs. during a dive test, flying out of Oppama Airfield (Yokosuka, Kanagawa), Japan. Pilot Masumi Okuyama of the flight test division of the Aeronautical Establishment is seen to deploy his chute, but then, inexplicably, releases harness and is killed by fall from height of . Crash is determined to have been caused by tail flutter due to missing mass balance weight on elevator. The new design enters service named after the end of the year Kigen 2600 as the Mitsubishi Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 11. This was the first fatality in the type.Yoshimura, Akira, translated by Kaiho, Retsu, and Gregson, Michael, "Zero Fighter", Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut, 1996, , , pp. 1, 70–74, 82.Horikoshi, Jiro, translated by Shindo, Shojiro, and Wantiez, Harold N., Eagles of Mitsubishi: The Story of the Zero Fighter, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1981, , , pp. 85–89.
3 April Pilot Lt. James W. Phelps. Jr. is killed while engaged in wargames near Cleveland, Ohio,Associated Press, "Army Pilot Killed In Mimic Warfare", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Thursday 4 April 1940, Volume 46, p. 1. when his Seversky P-35, 36-399, of the 94th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, from Selfridge Field, Michigan, comes down hard.
5 April Prototype SNCASE SE.100-01 crashes at Marignane, France, returning from test flight. Approaching field, gear down, flaps up, it is seen to execute a flat turn at , sink abruptly and crash. Unprotected fuel tanks in fuselage belly rupture, pilot Rouland and his mechanic perish in fire. Starboard propeller pitch mechanism inadvertently went into reverse on power increase causing loss of control.Green, William, "War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume One", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1960, p. 70.Bombeau, Alain, and Beauchamp, Gerry, "France's Flying Banana", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, November 1981, Volume 11, Number 6, pp. 40–41.
7 April Blackburn B-20, V8914, experimental flying-boat with retractable lower-hull, lost after suffering severe aileron flutter – 3 crew killed, 2 rescued by HMS Transylvania. The aircraft's wreck still exists, but remains undisturbed as it is designated a War grave. In 1998, one of the engines was raised as it had been caught in a fishing boat's nets and dragged away from the wreck, into shallower water. It is currently an exhibit in the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum.
11 April Grumman XF4F-2 Wildcat prototype, BuNo 0383, c/n 356, suffers engine failure during test flight out of NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C., force lands causing considerable damage. Aircraft grounded for several weeks for repairs.Editors, "Grumman's Willing Wildcat", Air Enthusiast Quarterly, Bromley, Kent., UK, Number 3, 1976, p. 51.
16 April The sole prototype Kimura HK-1 tailless glider, purchased by the Japanese Army, crashes this date after only 13 flights.
24 April Heinkel He 177A V3, wrk. nr. 0000003, D-AGIG, is destroyed in a crash this date. Cause is traced to faulty trimming of the aircraft.Darling, Kev, "Heinkel He 177 – Warpaint Series No. 33", Warpaint Books Limited, Bletchley, UK, p. 10.
27 April Prototype Yakovlev I-26, first of what became the Yak-1 fighter, crashes, killing pilot Yu. I. Piontkovskiy.Kosminkov, Konstantin Y., "Red Star Rising", Wings, Granada Hills, California, October 1996, Volume 26, Number 5, p. 42. The investigation of the crash found that the pilot performed two consecutive barrel rolls at low altitude which was in violation of test flight plan. It was believed that during the first roll, the main landing gear became unlocked, causing it to crash through the wing during the second roll. It has been theorized that Piontkovskiy's deviation from the flight plan was caused by frustration that his aircraft was being used for engine testing while I-26-2, built with the lessons of I-26-1 in mind, was already performing aerobatics.
9 May First prototype Hawker Tornado, P5219, suffers a failure in the monocoque structure just forward of the cockpit while in flight. Test pilot Philip G. Lucas manages to land damaged fighter safely, is awarded the George Medal. Airframe repaired, flying again a month later.Willis, David, "First Time Around – Hawker's Frustrated Tornado", Air Enthusiast, Stamford, Lincs., UK, Number 125, September–October 2006, p. 69.
26 May As the British Expeditionary Force retreats to the French coast in the face of German advances, a flight of obsolescent Hawker Hector army co-operation biplanes of No. 613 Squadron RAF is dispatched from RAF Hawkinge at 0950 hrs., each armed with 2 X 120 lb. general purpose (GP) bombs, to support the Calais garrison trapped in the town's Citadel. Over the channel, Plt. Off. Bernard Brown, flying Hector K8111, with gunner LAC R. V. Brown, test-fires his front gun but after a few rounds the muzzle explodes, holing his fuel tank. He jettisons his bombs and attempts to return to Hawkinge, but runs out of fuel and force-lands on Herne Bay golf course.Thomas, Andrew, "Biplanes Over Calais", FlyPast, Key Publications, Stamford, Lincs., UK, May 2015, Number 406, p. 38.
1 June First Douglas R3D-1 for the U.S. Navy, BuNo 1901, c/n 606, crashes at Mines Field, Los Angeles, California, before delivery. The Navy later acquires the privately owned DC-5 prototype, c/n 411, from William E. Boeing as a replacement.Swanborough, Gordon, and Bowers, Peter M., "United States Navy Aircraft since 1911", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1976, , , p. 487.
7 June Edgar James "Cobber" Kain, the RAF's top ace (17 confirmed kills during the Battle of France), due to return to England after a combat tour in France this date, is seen off from the airfield at Échemines by squadron mates who bid him farewell as he takes off in his Hurricane to fly to Le Mans to collect his kit. Unexpectedly, Kain begins a "beat-up" of the airfield, performing a series of low level aerobatics in Hawker Hurricane Mk. I, L1826. Commencing a series of "flick" rolls, on his third roll, the ace misjudges his altitude and hits the ground heavily in a level attitude. Kain dies when he is pitched out of the cockpit, striking the ground 27 m in front of the exploding Hurricane. Kain is buried in Choloy Military Cemetery.Norrie, Don. "Metz, France: Choloy Military Cemetery." www.pinetreeline.org, 8 May 2003. Retrieved: 11 March 2009.