Date:	Tuesday 22 June 1954
Time:	16:30 LT
Type:	Canadair Sabre F4 (F-86E)
Owner/operator:	4 Sqn RAF
Registration:	XB940
MSN:	727
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hamburg-Lübeck Autobahn,near Stapelfeld, 8 miles east of Hamburg -   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:
Canadair CL-13 (F-86E) Sabre F.4: Diverted to RAF before RCAF serial 19827 marked. First flight on 26 August 1953, delivered to the RAF (taken on charge) 29 September 1953. Initially serialled (in error) as XB964, became XB940 after delivery. Delivered to 4 Squadron, RAF Jever, Lower Saxony, West Germany on 7 April 1954 as "K"

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 22 June 1954: The pilot lost contact with his Sabre formation in haze and attempted to return to Jever. Because of a low fuel state (due to a hostile homing signal), he was diverted to Hamburg but had to force-land on the Hamburg-Lübeck Autobahn, near Stapelfeld, 8 miles east of Hamburg. The pilot - Flying Officer Ron "Chub" Gray - was uninjured. Officially, the incident was written up in the 4 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book - Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) as follows...

"Whilst flying as number four in a high level battle formation flight, Flying Officer Gray lost the formation in stratus cloud. Attempting a radio compass homing he headed east. Realising his mistake after sometime he returned towards the West. Having been airborne for 1 hrs 40 min and running short of fuel Flying Officer Gray forced landed on the Hamburg-Lubeck autobahn doing category 4 damage to the aircraft due to hitting a tree lining the road. The pilot was unhurt."

The following is an eyewitness testimony by the pilot himself (see link #5):

"In the autobahn incident; the dive brakes had not fully retracted and hence I was losing ground on the rest of the formation. The weather was very hazy and there was no sight of the ground. My fault not to follow standing orders and get a 10 minute fix, we were newly fangled with the 'radio compass' and I had it tuned to Jever frequency. At that time the NDB" [Non-Directional Beacon] "did not give morse-code identification and the crafty sods over the border had one of the same frequency; although I was not aware at the time. I had gone higher than the other three to look down for them and it was later established that a jet stream (what the hell are they?!) had been belting eastwards. Doug Bridson suggested I fly at best economical cruise. Fixer service would not fix, just steer 270 degrees, so can you image the cruising speed I adopted when the penny dropped!"

Ron's escapade featured strongly in the German press at the time. It was planned to refuel his Sabre and fly it off the Autobahn where it had landed, taking off under a bridge to gather speed. Unfortunately there was a dent in the leading edge of the starboard wing which made things potentially dodgy. He had hit a sapling when taxying to one side of the carriageway after landing. Ken Senar, Flying Wing Adjutant at the time, thinks Leo Cowan was present and in charge of the aircraft being dismantled.

Although Sabre XB940 was initially assessed as Cat.4 damaged (seriously damaged but repairable), it was returned to the UK for assessment at 49 MU RAF Colerne (as airfreight, dismantled inside a Bristol Freighter aircraft). At 49 MU Sabre XB940 was deemed "beyond economic repair" and struck off charge as Cat.5(c) on 21 February 1955. It was then broken up at RAF Colerne as spares and produce (scrap). The pilot - Pilot Officer Ron Gray - was presented, as a souvenir of the incident, the small piece of XB940's wing leading edge which had embedded itself into a tree during his unusual landing.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.160 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p 10)
3. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1954.htm
4. http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_19801_19850_detailed.htm
5. http://www.rafjever.org/4sqnstor002.htm
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XB
7. http://www.rafjever.org/4fm540jun54.htm#autobahn
8. http://www.rafjever.org/4squadaircraft.htm
9. http://www.rafjever.org/sharecurrentd.htm#GrayR
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapelfeld

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Jan-2013 12:14	Masen63	Added
24-Jan-2013 12:18	Masen63	Updated [Aircraft type]
21-Dec-2013 16:20	TB	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Country, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
31-Jan-2020 20:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
31-Jan-2020 22:46	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]