One of the most poignant images of the U.S. defeat in Vietnam was sailors dumping aircraft into the sea. More evacuation flights were approaching the U.S. fleet from Saigon than American ships had room to hold, so sailors had to push helicopters overboard to make room for incoming airlifts.
On Monday, the U.S. military made a similar maneuver, but entirely by accident. While trying to escape from a Yemeni missile and drone attack, the U.S.S. Harry Truman veered so hard that a F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet fell from the aircraft carrier into the Red Sea, the U.S. Navy informed CNN. None of the crew were harmed, except for a sailor who suffered "minor injuries," according to the Navy's statement.
Although the cost of the Super Hornet has changed over time, the Navy recently bought 17 of them for $1.1 billion, making for a cost of around $64 million per warplane. And this F/A-18E was the second one lost to the war in Yemen. Last December, the U.S.S. Gettysburg accidentally shot down one of its own fighters shortly after it took off.
