The occurred on 5 April 1964 in

Machida, Tokyo is a Cities of Japan, city located in West Tokyo, the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 428,851, and a population density of 6,000 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. A

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Vought RF-8A Crusader, BuNo ''146891'', which was returning as one half of a two-plane flight of Crusaders from

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to its home base of

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, suffered a mechanical malfunction. It subsequently crashed into a residential neighborhood in the Hara-Machida area of Machida City (near present-day JR Machida Station) in

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. The other aircraft landed safely at Atsugi. The crash killed four people and injured 32 others on the ground. The stricken aircraft's pilot, Captain R. L. Bown of

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, successfully

ejected Ejection or Eject may refer to: * Ejection (sports), the act of officially removing someone from a game * Eject (''Transformers''), a fictional character from ''The Transformers'' television series * "Eject" (song), 1993 rap rock single by Sense ...

at 5,000 feet and landed on a car, suffering minor bruises. The accident destroyed seven houses. Three of the four fatalities were caused by debris from the collapsed houses, and the fourth was from pieces of the destroyed aircraft. Japanese media questioned why Bown was not able to steer the aircraft away from the residential area before ejecting.

References

* United States Navy in the 20th century Accidents and incidents involving United States Navy and Marine Corps aircraft Aviation accidents and incidents in 1964 Aviation accidents and incidents in Japan United States Marine Corps in the 20th century United States military in Japan Machida F8 crash, 1964 Japan–United States relations Western Tokyo April 1964 events in Asia {{aviation-accident-stub

See also

References