List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1975–1979)
This is a list of notable accidents and incidents involving military aircraft grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. Not all of the aircraft were in operation at the time. For more exhaustive lists, see the Aircraft Crash Record Office or the Air Safety Network or the Dutch Scramble Website Brush and Dustpan Database. Combat losses are not included except for a very few cases denoted by singular circumstances. Aircraft terminology. Information on aircraft gives the type, and if available, the serial number of the operator in  italics, the constructors number, also known as the manufacturer's serial number (c/n), exterior codes in apostrophes, nicknames (if any) in quotation marks, flight callsign in italics, and operating units. 1979. 12 December LTJG Gary Scott Shaw (pilot) and LTJG Kenneth Martin Bates (B/N) were killed when their VA-165 KA-6D tanker crashed immediately after launching from USS CONSTELLATION (CV-64) off the coast of San Diego, CA. Suspected cause was malfunctioning elevator actuators.