Russia Almost Got Its Hands on An F-14 Tomcat Fighter And Its Missile After It Fell Off an Aircraft Carrier and Into the Ocean

An F-14A Tomcat operating from the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy nearly became a Cold War technology grab after a mishap during NATO’s Teamwork exercise in 1976. Around 60 nautical miles north of Scotland, a runaway engine caused the jet to slide across the flight deck, prompting the two-man crew to eject as the aircraft went overboard. The plane sank nearly 2,000 feet with its AIM-54 Phoenix missile aboard, a long-range fleet-defense weapon with a reported reach of 100 miles or more. The incident reportedly triggered an intense, secretive recovery effort amid fears the Soviet Union could obtain advanced U.S. aerospace technology.