The Chinese Marine Corps posted the main image of this post on April 1, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the infamous Hainan Incident
The main photograph of this article, which was first spotted by Scramble Magazine, was issued by the Chinese Marine Corps on April 1, 2021, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the infamous Hainan Incident. It features a group of marines in front of a dismantled US Navy EP-3 Aries II.
After colliding with a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) J-8II interceptor over the South China Sea on April 1, 2001, this US Navy EP-3E Aries II ((BuNo 156511), assigned to VQ-1 “World Watchers,” made an emergency landing at Lingshui Airbase, Hainan Province, China. When the damaged US aircraft made an emergency landing on Hainan Island, the Chinese jet and its pilot, Lieutenant Commander Wang Wei, perished. Before landing, the crew destroyed as much classified info as they could.
The U.S. was forced to pay to have the plane disassembled and moved when the Chinese refused to let it be flown off the island. The Chinese also demanded $34,567.89 from the United States to cover the cost of the 24 crew members’ lodging and food for 11 days.
The next image, however, is a unique historical record whose numbers, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency, unmistakably show the parts of the EP-3E ARIES II surveillance plane damaged during the incident. The broken propeller tip on the plane’s far right, as well as the missing radome (nose), are all clearly visible to the reader in this photograph of the damage to the aircraft.
Photo by Chinese Marine Corps and Lockheed Martin