A Marine Corps jet on loan to the Navy for its Top Gun school took a nosedive last month while in a hangar at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, the Corps told Military.com on Friday.
An image of the jet, an F-35C Lightning II, was posted on social media earlier this month showing it face-planted onto the concrete in a hangar. Military.com reached out to 3rd Marine Air Wing, or 3rd MAW, the unit that owns the roughly $100 million fifth-generation fighter jet, last week asking to confirm the incident.
A spokesperson for 3rd MAW, Capt. Stephanie Leguizamon, said that the nose gear of the F-35 “collapsed” following shutdown procedures on the flight line at the naval air station. The jet was parked when it collapsed on Jan. 26, she said.
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“The damage was confined to the nose landing gear, and we expect this jet to be repaired and fully operational soon,” Leguizamon said. “There were no injuries to any military or civilian personnel.”
The jet was loaned to the Navy to support its Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, more popularly referred to as the Top Gun school. The school teaches naval aviators how to fly jets like the F-35, as well as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Super Hornet, and was popularized by the film series of the same name.
The jet was provided by Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 311, according to…
