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1964 Machida F-8 crash

5 Apr 1964 · Machida, Tokyo, Japan

United States Marine Corps Vought RF-8A Crusader · Mechanical failure

From Kadena Air Base (DNA) to JMSDF Atsugi Air Base / Naval Air Facility Atsugi (NJA)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
4 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
Unknown
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
32
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Military

Vought RF-8A Crusader

Aircraft type
Vought RF-8
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
146891
Onboard fatalities
4
Route
From Kadena Air Base (DNA)To JMSDF Atsugi Air Base / Naval Air Facility Atsugi (NJA)

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1964 Machida F-8 crash (町田米軍機墜落事故) occurred on 5 April 1964 in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. A United States Marine Corps Vought RF-8A Crusader, BuNo 146891, which was returning as one half of a two-plane flight of Crusaders from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa to its home base of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, 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 Tokyo, Japan. 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 Seattle, Washington, successfully ejected at 5000 ft 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.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1964 Machida F-8 crash” (revision 1336108184, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: 1964 Machida F-8 crash
Article
1964 Machida F-8 crash
Revision
1336108184 · 2026-02-02 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4571544
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "1964 Machida F-8 crash" (page 37269075, revision 1336108184)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.