How many of you are old enough to remember this?

#OTD in 2001, a U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II collided with a PLAN J-8II interceptor over the South China Sea. The Chinese jet was lost while the damaged U.S. plane made an emergency landing on Hainan Island. The crew destroyed as much classified material as possible before landing. pic.twitter.com/aBzK77Vrb1

— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) April 1, 2022

If you remember this then you're old as fuck! Anyway I do. I also recall wondering to myself if the Chinese didn't intentionally do the deed. I guess we'll never know but one thing is probable. With increased activity within the Pacific, you can bet that we'll see a re-run of this incident. What happens if it's one of our spy birds or an F-35 that crashes and is recovered before we can get to it? I don't know the answer but it's a helluva "what if".