The first aircraft brought down by a F-18 type fighter was a TA-4. I don’t remember if it was when it was still called the YF-17 or had become the FA-18, but during an flight in the late 70s, a pylon fell off one of its wings and sliced through the wing of the TA-4 escort. I believe it happened over the great lakes area.
It was the F-18 prototype.
There’s a video of this incident on the net somewhere, I’ve seen it. Sad to watch, the Skyhawk is my favorite jet, second only to the F-5.
It was an F/A-18A and it happened in the early 80’s during weapons seperations while flying out of NAS Patuxent River, MD. They were doing seperation test of a VER (Vertical Ejector Rack) with one Mk-82 on it. The thing went crazy and flew over to the TA-4, taking half it’s wing off. Both aircrew got out and the photographer who was in the back seat is still running around here at Pax. That video is used for training still today.
Reddog
Darned glad to hear that all involved ended up safe and well…
I’ve seen that video…the damage to the Skyhawk was instant and catastrophic…it was amazing to see how fragile they can be when the wrong forcea are applied in the wrong places.
The video is one this page. If you notice, the fire doesn’t start until after the centerline tank is pyrotechically jettisoned. I’d hate to have been in that barrel ride.
Eddie