Date:	Tuesday 21 September 1954
Time:	21:21 LT
Type:	Canadair Sabre F4 (F-86E)
Owner/operator:	92 (East India) Sqn RAF
Registration:	XD733
MSN:	651
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hood Hill, Sutton Bank, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse (EGXU)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
The CL-13 (F-86E) Sabre was built by Canadair Ltd in May 1953 in Montreal, Canada and it is believed to have been initially built for a USAF contract and issued with the airframe number 52-10204. This was cancelled and it was diverted to RCAF use as 19751 but acquired by the MoD under the MDAP scheme and delivered to the UK, arriving on 20th July 1953 and was given itself RAF serial number of XD733. It was held in MU storage until being issued to 92 Squadron base at Linton on Ouse, who were converting from Meteor F.8's in February 1954. It was destroyed in the crash detailed below, with Cat.5(s) FA Burnt damage being sustained on 21st September 1954. It was struck off charge the same day and at the time of the crash it had flown 139 hours.

The pilot had been carrying out a night cross country exercise from RAF Linton-on-Ouse having taken off at 20:15. About an hour later he returned to the York area from the exercise and began his descent from 34,000ft. He passed over the station at 21:19 and two minutes later dived almost vertically in Hood Hill close to Sutton Bank. The crash carved a large crater in the rocky ground with wreckage travelling down the side of the hill in the field below.

The cause of the crash was never positively determined but was suspected to be due to a failure in the undercarriage doors, particularly the nose gear door. There had been problems with the undercarriage being slow to retract fully and another aircraft, XB635, had recently suffered from its nose door opening in the flight. This had caused the pilot to lose control of the aircraft, it was saved by the door being torn off allowing the pilot to regain control. The failure of the nose gear door on XB635 was determined to have been caused by the incorrect installation of the connection between the door operating jack and door up lock.

The door is locked in the up position by a mechanism attached to the jack via a bell crank, connecting rod and then a second bell crank. The two bell cranks being almost identical in overall shape and size. The port side (operating jack side) having a hole for a 3/8″ bolt on one end for attachment to the jack and a 1/4″ hole at the connecting rod end where as the starboard side has 1/4″ holes at both ends. The differences could lead to up to 1/8″ of play in the system.

PIlot of Sabre XD733:
Flying Officer Colin Arthur "Snatch" Grabham RAF (pilot, Service Number 4047162, aged 23) - killed on active service 21/9/54

According to a newspaper report (The York Press - 1 May 2009 - see link #10) the remains of the pilot were either not recovered, or not fully recovered, and there have been reports that the crash site has been desecrated, quote:

"Druid’ crash site at Hood Hill, near Sutton Bank, is desecrated
“OBSESSIVE” souvenir hunters have been condemned for digging over the scene of a fatal RAF fighter jet crash at a historic North Yorkshire beauty spot. The Ministry of Defence today joined the North York Moors National Park and the Forestry Commission in appealing for an immediate end to the “macabre, dangerous and criminal” search for the highly collectable remains of the Cold War plane at Hood Hill, near Sutton Bank.

In recent weeks, an unknown number of military aircraft collectors have used metal detecting equipment in a bid to locate parts of Flying Officer Colin “Snatch” Grabham’s Sabre aircraft. It plunged on to the isolated hill-top in mysterious circumstances in 1954 after taking off from RAF Linton-on-Ouse, north of York.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “It is highly likely the remains of Flying Officer Grabham are still on the site and therefore the site should be treated with the respect it deserves. In addition, there is a chance that ordnance may remain at the site and it can become unstable when exposed to the air, leading to death or serious injury. We would remind people that it is an offence under the Protection of Military Remains Act to tamper with, damage, move or unearth any remains and crashed UK military aircraft and their equipment remain the property of the Crown. Anyone who breaches the act is reminded they could face civil or criminal proceedings."

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.163 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p.20)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.91
4. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/46-50/xd733.html
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/238: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424359
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=XD
7. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/north-yorkshire-moors/north-american-sabre-xd733-hood-hill/
8. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1954.htm
9. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1950-1959_26.html
10. https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4335244.druid-crash-site-at-hood-hill-near-sutton-bank-is-desecrated/
11. http://davidcwray.blogspot.com/2012/11/sutton-bank-and-kilburn-white-horse-nov.html
12. http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_19751_19800_detailed.htm

Memorial to the pilot of Sabre XD733, Flying Officer Colin Arthur "Snatch" Grabham RAF at Sutton Bank:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Jul-2012 07:15	Daniel Nole	Added
24-Dec-2013 15:43	TB	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
08-Jan-2020 23:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Jan-2020 23:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
09-Jan-2020 14:51	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Operator]
09-Apr-2020 09:08	INV	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
10-Apr-2020 01:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code]
22-Apr-2020 21:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code]
22-Apr-2020 21:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]