A United States Marine Corps Vought RF-8A Crusader, BuNo 146891,[1] which was returning as one half of a two-plane flight of Crusaders from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa to its home base of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, suffered a mechanical malfunction.

It subsequently crashed into a residential neighborhood in the Hara-Machida area of Machida City (near present-day JR Machida Station) in Tokyo, Japan.

The stricken aircraft's pilot, Captain R. L. Bown of Seattle, Washington, successfully ejected at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) and landed on a car, suffering minor bruises.

Three of the four fatalities were caused by debris from the collapsed houses, and the fourth was from pieces of the destroyed aircraft.

Japanese media questioned why Bown was not able to steer the aircraft away from the residential area before ejecting.