Photo: Lockheed Martin
An interesting piece of news goes around the internet these days. Almost without exception, news outlets tell the story of how a Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighter accidentally shot itself during an exercise. And although we know for a fact airplanes can shoot themselves, that’s not what seems to have happened here.
According to Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Andrew Wood, speaking for Military.com, a 25mm round fired from one of the fighter's GAU-22 Gatling guns exploded in close proximity of the airplane during an exercise at the Yuma Range Complex on March 12.
The event was a dangerous one and caused some serious damage, estimated to be in the $2.5 million range. Luckily, the pilot managed to bring the plane down safely and escaped unharmed.
The entire incident is thus nothing more than an accidental explosion of a round closer to the gun that fired it than to its target. Yet somehow, the relentless internet twisted this around and turned it into something more spectacular than it actually is.
But, as said, this doesn’t mean airplanes can't shoot themselves every once in a while. Most recently, in 2019, a Dutch F-16 fighter plane made an emergency landing after one of its guns apparently fired itself, and the resulting projectiles somehow hit the plane through some inexplicable mechanics.
Historically, the first recorded such incident happened in 1956, when an American F-11 Tiger fired two bursts of its Colt Mk.12 20 mm cannons and then decided to race the rounds to the target.
The story goes the pilot of the plane, Tom Attridge, suddenly took the fighter into a dive and somehow managed to catch up to his own rounds, getting hit by them (or hitting them, we’re not sure how that works). Despite suffering some damage, he, too, managed to land the plane safely.
Now, this is how a plane properly shoots itself.
The event was a dangerous one and caused some serious damage, estimated to be in the $2.5 million range. Luckily, the pilot managed to bring the plane down safely and escaped unharmed.
The entire incident is thus nothing more than an accidental explosion of a round closer to the gun that fired it than to its target. Yet somehow, the relentless internet twisted this around and turned it into something more spectacular than it actually is.
But, as said, this doesn’t mean airplanes can't shoot themselves every once in a while. Most recently, in 2019, a Dutch F-16 fighter plane made an emergency landing after one of its guns apparently fired itself, and the resulting projectiles somehow hit the plane through some inexplicable mechanics.
Historically, the first recorded such incident happened in 1956, when an American F-11 Tiger fired two bursts of its Colt Mk.12 20 mm cannons and then decided to race the rounds to the target.
The story goes the pilot of the plane, Tom Attridge, suddenly took the fighter into a dive and somehow managed to catch up to his own rounds, getting hit by them (or hitting them, we’re not sure how that works). Despite suffering some damage, he, too, managed to land the plane safely.
Now, this is how a plane properly shoots itself.
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