Date:	Saturday 1 October 1955
Time:	day
Type:	Canadair Sabre F4 (F-86E)
Owner/operator:	93 Sqn RAF
Registration:	XB822
MSN:	576
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Jever, 4.3 km west-southwest of Schortens, Lower Saxony -   Germany
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Jever, Lower Saxony
Destination airport:	RAF Jever (Ger.)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Suffered an engine failure during a test flight from Jever, West Germany. The pilot - Flight Lieutenant John Sylvanus Clark Davis - attempted an emergency landing but the undercarriage would not lower. While he was preoccupied with this the aircraft crashed 1,100 yards short of the runway. According to an entry from the 93 Squadron, Operational Record Book (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540)

"Johnny Davis's prang with a 93 Sqn aircraft on 1 October 1955. Johnny had a flame out in Sabre F.4 XB822 "E" and after getting into the correct position for his forced landing he lost it while digging for the 'lavatory chain' to drop the undercarriage. The position of these emergency handles were not easy to reach as it meant a head down, and stretch, to reach in front of the control column...

...Eric Pigdon had just landed from a Vampire T.11 trip with OC Flying, after hearing about the crash on the radio. They rushed round the airfield in the OC Flying's VW Beetle to examine the site. When working out how the Sabre had arrived at it's present position they were puzzled how the ground tracks managed to go either side of a complete telephone post. Eventually they found out that, in the short time from landing, the German Bundespost had already replaced the telegraph pole which the Sabre had flattened!"

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.174 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-1955.htm
4. http://www.rafjever.org/93squadaircraft.htm
5. http://www.rafjever.org/93sqnpic178.htm
6. http://www.rafjever.org/sharecurrentd.htm#Davis
7. http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_19651_19700_detailed.htm
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XB
9. http://www.rafjever.org/93sqnpic627.htm
10. http://www.rafjever.org/93sqnpic215.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Feb-2011 12:40	Masen63	Added
08-Sep-2011 12:56	Uli Elch	Updated [Location, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Sep-2011 13:07	Uli Elch	Updated [Total fatalities, Other fatalities]
27-Dec-2013 18:48	TB	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
31-Jan-2014 01:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Feb-2014 15:08	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location]
18-Feb-2014 10:54	TB	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
29-Jan-2020 22:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
30-Jan-2020 05:37	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
07-Nov-2021 15:41	TB	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
09-Apr-2024 10:08	Nepa	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]