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 construction number (c/n), also known as the manufacturer's serial number, exterior codes in apostrophes, nicknames (if any) in quotation marks, flight call sign in italics, and operating units.

1955 1955 On its 205th flight, the first prototype Cessna XT-37-CE, 54–716, c/n 40001, first flown 12 October 1954, becomes uncontrollable during spin tests and crashes in Kansas, Cessna test pilot Robert S. "Bob" Hagan ejecting successfully.

5 January Two Boeing B-47E Stratojets of the 44th Bomb Wing from Lake Charles AFB, Louisiana, collide over the Gulf of Mexico during refuelling Wednesday night, causing one to crash and the other to limp home to base with damage, sans its observer who bailed out over the Gulf. Air-sea rescue teams began a search of the Gulf in an area some 30 miles (48 km) SE of Cameron, Louisiana, on the Gulf coast. B-47E-5-DT, 52-029, is lost with all three crew. The observer who bailed out was also never found. The pilot of the recovered bomber stated that the lost plane apparently smashed down on his aircraft from above, "leaving wheel tracks on the cabin before it spun off to crash in Gulf waters. Capt. Morris E. Shiver, 29, of Albany, Ga., said, 'We never knew what hit us,' as the two six-jet bombers crashed together Wednesday night about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Cameron, La. An armada of planes and ships searched Thursday for the four airmen missing after the crash. Three of them were aboard the B-47 which plunged into the Gulf, while the fourth, 1st Lt. Matthew Gemery, of Lakewood, Ohio, an observer, could have returned on his limping plane had he waited another minute before ejecting himself. They identified Maj. Sterling T. Carroll, 33, of Port Arthur, Tex., as the commander of the plane that returned, and Shiver as the pilot. The other three missing airmen were Maj. Jean S. Pierson, of Danville, Ind., aircraft commander; Capt. David O. Crump, of Albemarle, N.C. [sic], copilot, and father of six children, and 1st Lt. Rodney P. Egelston of Levelland, Tex., observer-bombardier."

6 January "BRAMAN, Okla. (AP) – A crippled B47 six-engine jet bomber barrel-rolled, crashed and exploded in a wheat field a mile east of here Thursday, killing all three crewmen aboard. The plane, from McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita, Kan., disintegrated into hundreds of pieces after the explosion in this farm area of North Central Oklahoma near the Kansas border. Maj. Lawrence Tacker of McConnell AFB identified the dead as: Capt. Wayne E. Andrew of Yellow Springs, Ohio, commander of the plane; 1st Lt. Joseph C. Cook, co-pilot, Sunland, Calif.; Capt. William C. Berry, observer, Dayton, Ohio. The wives and families of the men are living temporarily in Wichita. O. O. McMasters, who lives here, said he heard the plane coming from the north and in distress. McMasters said it suddenly barrel-rolled and crashed. A crater deep was left in the pasture. Bits of the crewmen's bodies and the plane were scattered for hundreds of yards. The plane landed on the Horne farm and the explosion was so great it rocked Bramen a mile away." B-47B-30-BW Stratojet, 51-2086, of the 3520th Flying Training Wing lost.

6 January A ferry pilot in a flight of three North American F-51 Mustangs from Norton Air Force Base, California, to McClellan Air Force Base, California, bails out into the Sierra Pelona Mountains north of Los Angeles in the first snowstorm of the season after suffering engine failure. Capt. John S. Thompson, of the 1736th Ferrying Squadron at Long Beach Air Force Base, "trudged through the season's first heavy snow to a cafe at Acton in the mountains between Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley and the Mojave Desert and called authorities. He said he had landed not far from where his F51 Mustang, crippled by a faulty propeller, crashed in the snow." The airframe came down near the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, east of Soledad Canyon Road. F-51H-10-NA Mustang, 44-64638, wrecked.

6 January The crash of a Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star in the Shadow Mountains in the Mojave Desert, while en route from Perrin Air Force Base, Texas, to George Air Force Base, California, kills two crew just short of their destination. "The plane crashed as the pilot lost radio contact with George AFB, Victorville, in a heavy snowstorm while approaching from Williams AFB, Phoenix, Thursday. A George helicopter sighted the wreckage on the east side of snow-covered Shadow Mountain, 18 miles northwest of Victorville, and a search party reached the plane later Friday. The Perrin trainer was on a routine flight. It had stopped at Williams to refuel." Perrin officials identified the dead as Capt. Donald McLaren, 30, and 2d Lt. Richard Delehanty, 24, both of Sherman, Texas. Ground parties had set out from March Air Force Base, Riverside, on Thursday to search for the plane and its crew as bad weather delayed an air search. Shadow Mountain, an isolated peak, is located about due east of the main chain of the range. It has a peak elevation of 1,279 meters (4,196 ft). T-33A-1-LO, 51-9115, was involved.

6 January "Tokyo (AP) – Two planes, presumably U. S. jets, collided high over Tokyo Bay Friday night in a blinding flash of light that startled thousands of residents. U. S. Far East Air Force headquarters said a Sabre jet fighter and a jet trainer from nearby Yokota Air Base were missing." "Tokyo (AP) – The U.S. Air Force today released the names of three Air Force pilots killed Thursday night when two jet planes collided over Tokyo Bay. The pilots were identified as 2nd Lt. Kenneth E. Heeter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd E. Heeter of Emlenton, PA.; 2nd Lt. William O. Edwards, son of Mrs. E.D. Edwards of Beaucoup, Ill., and Capt. Milan Mosny, son of John Mosny, Little Falls, NY. Heeter was piloting an F86 Sabre jet and Edwards and Mosny were in a T33 trainer when their planes collided during a night training mission. After the collision the planes plummeted into Tokyo Bay. Two of the bodies have been recovered and search is continuing for the third. The Air Force did not say which bodies have been recovered. F-86D-45-NA Sabre, 52-3983, and T-33A-1-LO Shooting Star, 52-9749, were involved.

7 January A pilot suffered first and second degree burns when his North American F-86D Sabre crashed on takeoff from Norton AFB, California, when the engine flamed out as he departed the runway at 16:19. 1st Lt. Robert L. Buss, from Selfridge AFB, Mount Clemens, Michigan, reached an altitude of c. after leaving the west end of the east-west runway and a speed of c. when the engine failed. It crashed about from the air strip west of Alabama Street and south of 3rd Street, near the Santa Ana River Wash. The plane was headed for Alabama Street, which was carrying heavy north-south traffic. "Officials at Norton praised the young pilot for his courage in making a 45-degree right turn with the dead plane to avoid crashing on the thoroughfare. Lt. Buss said he first struck a small embankment causing the fuel tank to explode before the plane began grinding to a halt 200 yards away. One wing was ripped from the craft on impact. The pilot's clothing caught fire when the fuel tank exploded. After crawling from the blazing craft he tore off his outer garments and rolled in the sand, saving his own life." Floyd K. Smith, chief of Office for Information Services at the San Bernardino installation, said that the pilot, rushed immediately to the base hospital, was from the 13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Selfridge AFB. He is single and believed a resident of that base. Smith stated that Buss was on his way to the Fresno Air Terminal and had stopped for fuel at Norton earlier in the day. F-86D-40-NA, 52- 3794, was involved.

9 January A U.S. Navy Beechcraft JRB-4 with three aboard goes missing while on a flight from Monterey, California, to Norton AFB, California. On board were LT Marshall Hand, of La Mesa Village, Monterey, pilot; LT Lasley K. Lacewell Jr., of Carmel, California copilot; and a sailor passenger, Haskel Lewis Reichbach, fireman of the , berthed in San Diego. Still missing by mid-week, despite the search efforts of the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Civil Air Patrol and Army National Guard, "At dawn Thursday, 51 military planes coordinated by the 42nd Air Rescue Squadron at March Air Force Base will continue the search." Wreckage discovered near Corona in Silverado Canyon Wednesday turned out to be from another accident several years ago. According to CAA officials at Ontario International Airport who were the last to hear from the missing craft, the plane is believed to be down somewhere in the snow-covered San Bernardino Mountains. The SNB-2 Navigator, BuNo 67260, crashed into a ridge on Cajon Mountain above Cajon Pass in a rugged area of chaparral. All on board killed. The crash site was discovered on 13 January at about the level of Cajon Mountain.

13 January Former Navy pilot, now a test pilot for Douglas Aircraft Company, James B. Verdin, 36, is killed this date when he bails out of A4D Skyhawk, BuNo 137815, at during a test flight near Victorville, California, and his parachute fails to open. Douglas company officials said that he radioed that he was bailing out shortly before the fighter-bomber crashed and burned. The wreckage was sighted at dusk 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Victorville between Haystack Butte and Highway 395 by helicopters from Edwards AFB. Verdin's body was not in the wreckage. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Office said a parachute was reported in the northeast section of the county shortly after the crash. Search parties were dispatched to the area, which is partially snow-covered. Temperatures were near freezing. The pilot's body was spotted at 15:00 Friday 14 January, on the desert floor eleven miles (18 km) south of Kramer Junction, about a mile east of Highway 395. It was found c. three miles (5 km) northeast of the aircraft wreckage by a ground party composed of personnel from Camp Irwin, Edwards AFB and George AFB. "Aiding in the widespread search by several thousand men afoot, on horseback and automobile was a posse from the San Bernardino County sheriff's office under the direction of Capt. Jack Miller of the Victorville substation." Scores of military and civilian planes were also involved. Confirmation that it was Verdin's body was made by Edwards AFB officers who landed at the scene in a helicopter a few minutes after the discovery. Verdin's helmet and part of his canopy were found about a mile south of where his body fell. Coroner R. E. Williams said that the body was removed from the scene by Air Force personnel. YA4D-1 Skyhawk, BuNo 137815, the third pre-production airframe, written off. Verdin, as a Navy lieutenant commander, had set an absolute speed record of on a three-kilometer course over the Salton Sea in an F4D Skyray on 5 October 1953. He left the service in June 1954 to take a test pilot job with Douglas.

15 January