Date:	Tuesday 31 March 1953
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5
Owner/operator:	93 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WA198
MSN:	EEP/42...
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Etzel, Friedeburg, 5 miles south of RAF Jever, Lower Saxony -   Germany
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Jever, Lower Saxony
Destination airport:	RAF Jever
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB Mk 5 WA198: Delivered to the RAF 5/9/1950. Taken on charge by 93 Squadron 14/10/1950 as "T-N".

Crashed and destroyed 31/3/1953: Pilot was on one of his first conversion sorties having been on the Squadron for only 11 days, started a controlled descent over the airfield from 15,000 feet but then told Air Traffic Control that he was experiencing icing and was breaking off the QGH. The aircraft was seen to emerge from the cloud base at high speed and then to break up and scatter wreckage over a wide area, 5 miles south of Jever airfield.

Crew of Vampire WA198:
Pilot Officer Michael John Crocker RAF (pilot, aged 20) killed on active service 31/3/1953.

According to the following excerpt from the 93 Squadron Operational Record Book:

"31st TUESDAY. Battle Flight again with four aircraft. In the morning there were two scrambles to do P.I.'s with other Battle Flights. The interceptions were good, and a slight note of realism was introduced by controlling the formations on different channels. The ground waits during refuelling are longer now because I.F.F. sets, if used, must be checked after each flight.

From the Hangar there was only one training flight. This was P/O. CROCKER who was doing a Sector Recce and Q.G.H. After he became overdue for return to base, a search revealed that his aircraft had crashed South of the airfield, and that he had been killed". [Vampire WA198, 5 miles South of airfield]."The cause of the accident is not yet known. The absence of crash equipment on the airfield put it out of action, and it was not until 16.20 that Battle Flight were able to get airborne again to do Practice Interceptions on one another. Flying finished at 17.05".

Etzel, Friedeburg is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 14 km southeast of Wittmund, and 20 km west of Wilhelmshaven at approximate Coordinates: 53°27′N 7°50′E

Note that the official file on the accident (File AVIA 5/32/S2625) at the National Archives at Kew (see link #4) gives the crash location as "Sande near Ems". Sande is a municipality in the district of Friesland, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Jade Bight, approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of Wilhelmshaven, and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southeast of Jever at approximate Coordinates: 53°29′N 8°0′E

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p 356
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/32/S2625: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578471
5. http://www.rafjever.org/93squadaircraft.htm
6. http://www.rafjever.org/93fm540mar53.htm
7. 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
8. http://www.ukserials.com/prodlists.php?type=972
9. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH100%20prodn%20list.txt
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedeburg
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sande,_Lower_Saxony

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Mar-2008 14:12	JINX	Added
08-Jun-2008 15:39	JINX	Updated
04-Mar-2013 16:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
17-May-2015 06:41	MiG21	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport]
07-Dec-2020 22:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
09-Apr-2024 10:06	Nepa	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]