Date:	Saturday 1 August 1959
Time:	09:40
Type:	North American F-86H Sabre
Owner/operator:	California Air National Guard
Registration:	53-1293
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Van Nuys Air National Guard Base -   United States of America
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	KVNY
Destination airport:	KVNY
Confidence Rating:	Little or no information is available

Narrative:
Aircraft Tail Section experienced control failure. Aircraft into inverted flat spin. Pilot ejected inverted with seat through canopy, as auto-bolts did not separate canopy. Pilot spine severely compressed between seat and canopy. Chute rip-cord did not deploy chute, which was manually deployed by pilot. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture was filming nearby and captured last part of crash showing aircraft in flat spin all the way to ground. Crash site 8 miles N.E. of Taft, CA. and 65 Miles from Vandenberg AFB.

Family of Pilot Robert Salmen. Film, (plus unserviceable hardware) Failed Rip cord, Helmet damaged in Crash, damaged pressure suit, medical report of crash, and investigative report of crash from 115th Tac. Ftr. Sqn./146th Tac. Ftr. Wing. copies retained. "No-Go" UR mechanical items were redacted from incident investigation report, which remain redacted as of March 2023.

Taken by investigators at crash site. Additional information attached as noted in Source field.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-May-2021 18:53	ASN archive	Added