American warplane goes down close to California airforce facility

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Fire crews spray down the wreckage of a US Marines’ F-35B fighter jet after it crashed into a field near Miramar Air Base in San Diego, California, on July 31, 2026. A US F-35 fighter jet crashed Friday near a military base in San Diego, but the pilot was able to eject before impact, officials said. “There was an aviation mishap involving a Marine Corps F-35B in the vicinity” of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar at about 10:00 am (1700 GMT), a spokesman for the base told AFP. (Photo by SANDY HUFFAKER / AFP)

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A US F-35 fighter jet crashed Friday near a military base in San Diego, but the pilot was able to eject before impact, officials said.

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“There was an aviation mishap involving a Marine Corps F-35B in the vicinity” of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar at about 10:00 am (1700 GMT), a spokesman for the base told AFP.

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“The pilot was ejected and has been recovered.”

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A later statement from the military base said the pilot had been transported to a medical facility “in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.”

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Footage circulated on social media showing a plume of smoke rising from the aircraft, as firefighters were deployed to douse the flames.

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MCAS Miramar is known around the world as the one-time home of the US Navy’s “Top Gun” school for elite pilots, immortalized in the 1986 film “Top Gun” starring Tom Cruise.

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Each F-35B, the variant of the stealth fighter jet with vertical takeoff and landing capability, costs about $109 million, according to maker Lockheed Martin.

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AFP

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