Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth confirmed the military's new stance in a statement filed in federal court on Friday.
The first- and second-place winning pilots likely crashed at the National Air Race Championships, possibly because of a blind spot, glare or loss of focus.
The boots and dog tags Alan Alda wore to portray the wisecracking surgeon Hawkeye meant so much to him that when the show ended 40 years ago, he kept them.
U.S. Air Force Capt. David Brown, who's an F-16 pilot, said at the Paris Air Show this week that training takes about a year for American military pilots.