Navy Plane, on Fire, Shot Down; Crew Bails Out
WASHINGTON — A Navy early warning aircraft caught fire over the Mediterranean Sea on Monday and its crew of five bailed out before an American fighter shot it down, a Navy official said.
The E-2C Hawkeye from the aircraft carrier Forrestal was on a routine air patrol in support of Operation Provide Comfort, the allied relief effort in northern Iraq, when one of its engines caught fire, said Lt. Fred Henney, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.
The crew of the aircraft bailed out about 40 miles southeast of Cyprus after determining that the fire could not be extinguished. A Navy F/A-18 attack plane shot the plane down with a 20-millimeter Gatling gun “for reasons of safety,” Henney said.
All five crew members were recovered by helicopters from the Forrestal and the cruiser Yorktown, Henney said. None was seriously injured.
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