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. For more exhaustive lists, see the Aircraft Crash Record Office, the Air Safety Network, or the Dutch Scramble Website Brush and Dustpan 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.

1970 10 January Developmental prototype Indian Air Force HAL HF-24 Marut Mk.IR, HF 032, equipped with reheat, crashed just after takeoff, killing India's finest test pilot, Suranjan Das. Failure of one engine and partial failure of the second was rumored, but the official inquiry attributed the loss to a malfunctioning canopy locking system. Reheat trials did not resume until 1972, using second prototype BD 884.Chopra, Pushpindar Singh, "Desert Warrior", Jets, IPC Media, Ltd., London, Winter 2001, p. 78. Reheat upgrades are subsequently abandoned.

2 February A Convair F-106A-100-CO Delta Dart, 58-0787, of the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, out of Malmstrom AFB, (the Cornfield Bomber), piloted by Capt. Gary Faust, went into a post-stall gyration during a high-speed rudder roll and entered a flat spin during air combat maneuvering (ACM) over Montana. Faust followed procedures and ejected from the aircraft at ~8,000 feet. The resulting change of balance caused the aircraft to go nose-down, stabilize, and it landed wheels up in a snow-covered wheatfield near Big Sandy, Montana, suffering almost no damage. The aircraft was then sent back to base by rail, repaired at McClellan AFB, California, and returned to service. Preserved initially at Griffiss AFB, New York, it is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

26 March First SEPECAT Jaguar prototype, E-01, crashed during a landing attempt at Centre D'essais en Vol, Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, France, after declaring an in-flight emergency. Test pilot CDT A. M. L. Brossier shut down the starboard engine after an engine bay warning due to a catastrophic fire; on return to base and finding the speed excessive, the pilot shut down the remaining engine and thus lost the hydraulics, having neglected to start the electrically driven hydraulic pump. Without flying controls he was obliged to eject, receiving minor injuries.

3 April A U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, 55-089, of the 28th 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 saved 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 the crash.San Bernardino, California: San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, Saturday, 4 April 1970, p. A-2.

16 April US Navy McDonnell Douglas TA-4F Skyhawk, BuNo 154308, c/n 13696, of VA-43, from NAS Oceana, Virginia, and U.S. Air Force North American 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. Col. Ivey J. Lewis, Stockton, California, Halturewicz, Maj. Ronald L. Edwards, and T. Sgt. Joseph R. Brown, all of MacDill AFB, Florida were killed.San Bernardino, California: San Bernardino Sun, 6 Airmen Die as Navy, Air Force Jets Collide, Friday, 17 April 1970.

18 April USMC Major General Edwin B. Wheeler, members of his staff, and Colonel Edward A. Wilcox (1st Marines), on an inspection of a search and destroy operation, were involved in a helicopter crash on approach to a jungle landing zone ~15 miles southwest of Da Nang, South Vietnam. Wheeler suffered a broken leg.Associated Press, "Gen. Wheeler Breaks Leg," The San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, San Bernardino, California, Sunday 19 April 1970, Volume XXIV, Number 82, p. A-3.

28 April A U.S. Air Force McDonnell Douglas 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 were spotted by rescue aircraft and were recovered after two hours in the water by the oil tanker Texaco Illinois, diverted from 8 miles away.Washington, D.C.: "2 Chutists Survive Fall Of 36,000 Ft.", The Washington Post, Tuesday, 29 April 1970.

4 May A Convair T-29, "Visco 57", departed Hamilton Air Force Base, California, at ~0800 hrs with four crew members and 10 passengers, en route to Fairchild AFB, Spokane, Washington, on a hazy but otherwise clear morning. Just minutes after takeoff, it clipped a ridge SE of Petaluma, crashed and burned, killing 13 of those on board.Carter, Lori A., Lori A. Carter. "Hamilton Air Force plane crash recalled 44 years later", Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, California, 20 June 2014.

6 May USAF RF-4C-21-MC Phantom II, 64-1018, 'AR' tailcode, of 1st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, based at RAF Alconbury in England, and on Defensive Combat Manouvres over the English Peak District, crashed in woods at Unthank, near Dronfield in Derbyshire, England. The crew ejected over Curbar Edge in Derbyshire. The pilot, Major Don Tokar, 37, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, suffered a compound leg fracture after landing on rocks. The navigator, Major Peter Dunn, 34, of Salem, Illinois, escaped with minor cuts and lacerations sustained on landing.

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 ejected safely.Crickmore, Paul F. "Lockheed's Blackbirds: A-12, YF-12 and SR-71", Wings of Fame, Volume 8, AIRtime Publishing Inc., Westport, Connecticut, 1997, , pp. 46, 90.

11 May An F5 tornado struck Lubbock, Texas destroying about one quarter of the city. Nineteen of 23 U.S. Air Force trainers (probably Cessna T-41 Mescaleros) at Lubbock International Airport were destroyed, amongst 100 aircraft damaged.

12 May Indian Air Force prototype HAL HF-24 Marut HF 001, BR 461, was lost due to unknown circumstances in the sea off Goa while on a routine ferry flight. Squadron Leader K. L. Narayan was lost with the aircraft.

22 May A U.S. Air Force Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star of the 1st Composite Wing, Andrews AFB, Maryland, crashed 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.Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post, Saturday, 23 May 1970.

24 May A U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy made an emergency landing at Dobbins AFB, Georgia, suffering an electrical malfunction that knocked out landing lights, caused minor damage to the nosegear and flattened four of 28 tires.San Bernardino, California: San Bernardino Sun, Thursday, 28 May 1970.

27 May A U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, 67-0172, c/n 500-0011, caught fire while taxiing at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, due to an electrical fire in the cargo compartment. Five crewmembers escaped, but seven firefighters suffered minor injuries fighting blaze. The aircraft was destroyed.

June RAF Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C.1, XP441, of No. 114 Squadron RAF, written off during training accident at RAF Benson, when the aircraft bounced heavily during a three-engine approach and attempted a go-around, but the pilot inexpertly retracted the flaps, stalled, and came down in Mr. Passey's junk yard in the village of Benson. The crew, remarkably, was uninjured.

6 June A U.S. Air Force Lockheed 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, lost one tire and blew another on landing at Charleston AFB, South Carolina for the 437th MAW.San Bernardino, California: San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, Sunday, 7 June 1970, p. A-2.

11 June A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A Intruder No. 156998, flown by pilot LT James D. Maynard, age 25, and bombardier LTJG William H. Van Stone, Jr., of VA-145 stationed at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, crashed while on a routine practice bombing run over the Boardman Bombing Range near Boardman, Oregon. Although both crewmen ejected, the 23-year old Van Stone did not survive."Airman Killed In Crash" (AP), The News, Frederick, Maryland (June 13, 1970), p. 5. Archived at newspapers.com, accessed 7 October 2017.

17 June Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7970, Item 2021, collided with a KC-135Q tanker 20 miles E of El Paso, Texas. Pilot Buddy Brown and RSO Mort Jarvis eject safely. The tanker limped back to Beale Air Force Base, California.

27 June Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Cessna 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 River Indus near Kalabagh-Khushal Garh area. No debris or bodies were located, in the very extensive ground and aerial search that followed, however.

18 July Soviet Air Force Antonov An-22, c/n 00340207, CCCP-09303, of the 81st Military Transport Aviation Regiment, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 22 on board; the cause was never fully determined, but decompression was theorized. The aircraft was transporting humanitarian aid to Peru following an earthquake. All pressurized An-22s were grounded following the crash.

24 July U.S. Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4C-20-MC Phantom II, 63-7609, crashes SE of McNeal, Arizona.

Circa 29 July Lt. (j.g.) William Belden, 23, of Racine, Wisconsin, ejected from a McDonnell Douglas A-4E Skyhawk on the deck of the in the western Pacific. The pilot was recovered shaken but unhurt by helicopter; The Skyhawk was later recovered from the carrier's catwalk.

30 July USMC Lockheed KC-130F Hercules, BuNo 150685, c/n 3728, of VMGR-152, crashed at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Lake Forest, California during a misjudged maximum effort landing – the wings broke, the fuselage ended up overturned and then caught fire.

3 August A Lockheed P-3A-55-LO Orion, BuNo 152159, c/n 185-5129, 'ZE-06', of VP-17, NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, exploded in flight after takeoff from Nellis AFB, Nevada, crashing near Searchlight, Nevada and killing all ten aboard. The cause of the accident was never determined.

5 August A U.S. Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II of the 36th TFW, Bitburg, Germany, TDY to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, crashed 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.Washington, D.C., "Two U.S. Fliers Killed in Spain", The Washington Post, Friday 7 August 1970, p. A-12, column 3.

25 August