Date:	Monday 14 July 1952
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	93 Sqn RAF
Registration:	VV227
MSN:	EEP/42471
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Brockzetel, 2 miles west of Aurich, East Frisia -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Jever, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Destination airport:	RAF Jever, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
De Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.Mk.5 VV227, 93 Squadron, RAF: Written off (Destroyed) 14.7.1952 in a Cat 5 Flying Accident. Pilot lost leader in dense cloud, control lost, port drop tank came off and removed tailplane and elevator. The aircraft then dived straight into the ground near Brockzetel, 2 miles west of Aurich, East Frisia, West Germany, killing the pilot, Pilot Officer Edward Samuel Abigail aged 23)

According to the entry in the 93 Squadron ORB (Operation Record Book) for this date:

"DUXFORD & JEVER: 14th. The Squadron returned to JEVER with ten aircraft, the weather being generally fair with a broken layer of cloud approximately 4,000 ft. thick. Whilst snaking down through this layer, in which visibility was worse than its appearance suggested, Pilot Officer ABIGAIL lost his leader and was seen no more. His aircraft [VV227] was found wrecked two miles west of AURICH, and he became the Squadron's first fatality since its reformation"

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 131 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 267
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p 89)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/104: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424225
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2586: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578432
6. 93 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1955: National Archives File AIR 27/2636/2 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8425320
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VV
8. http://www.rafjever.org/93squadaircraft.htm#vv227
9. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
10. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockzetel_(Aurich)
11. http://www.rafjever.org/93fm540jul52.htm#vv227
12. http://www.rafjever.org/sharepast.htm#Abigail

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Mar-2013 19:08	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-Apr-2013 07:12	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
31-Dec-2019 18:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Source, Narrative]
09-Jan-2020 15:24	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]
07-Dec-2020 23:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]