On the 21st of September 1954 the pilot of this aircraft was returning to base after a high altitude night cross-country training flight, he had taken off from RAF Linton on Ouse at 20.15hrs and an hour later radioed to say he was near base, he was given several vectors to steer. At 21.19hrs he was contacted by Linton Tower to say he was over the airfield, this signal was acknowledged. Just over two minutes later the aircraft crashed into Hood Hill, near Sutton Bank and 11 miles north of Linton on Ouse at a near vertical angle of descent. The pilot was killed instantly. Local folklaw suggests that the aircraft impacted with a large rock on the hilltop/ridge called "The Altar", a stone visable for some distance due to its size. This stone was said to have had a dinosaur footprint in it.
In the days prior to the crash various reports of faults in the aircraft's nose undercarriage were filed, whilst they were all investigated no faults were found on the ground and as a result nothing was done. The aircraft had taken part in Battle of Britain day aerobatics display three days prior to the crash.
Due to the nature of the impact the crash investigation was limited because of the complete destruction of the aircraft. Another 92 Squadron aircraft, Sabre XD635 had suffered an opening of the nose-wheel door inflight only a short time before this incident and because of this control of that aircraft was lost, control was only regained after the door had detached in flight. A faulty door lock was to blame. Whilst not proved the same may well have happened in XD733's case but the door did not detach itself. Prior to detailed investigation of the other aircraft (XD635), the door lock mechanism was strongly suspected and the same may well have happened here in XD733's case.
Detailed examination of Sabre XD635's nose wheel door mechanism was carried out, it was found the reason for the opening of the door was due to an incorrect part being fitted at the time of manufacture. Whilst no blame for this was put on the RAF's maintainance company it was strongly suspected the same incorrect part had been fitted to Sabre XD733. The aircraft should have had both a port and starboard bell crank, which operated the door jack. In these incorrect cases two port bell cranks had been fitted, both types looked identicle although various linkages would prevent the door being fully locked in place. The incorrect part was built into the aircraft as new and could not be detected in any maintainance program. It was more than probable that the same fault occured with XD733 leading to the crash on Hood Hill.
What was never established was why the pilot crashed so far from Linton on Ouse, having planned to land there why was he so far from base at the time of the crash. It has been suggested that he mistook Topcliffe airfield's lights for that of Linton's, Topcliffe being only a short distance from Sutton Bank. This seems the most likely explanation.
The 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 and was given itself RAF serial number of XD733. It was held in MU storage until being issued to 92 Sqdn at Linton on Ouse, who were converting from Meteor F.8's in February 1954. It was destroyed in the crash detailed above, with Cat. 5(s)/FA Burnt damage being sustained on 21st September 1954. It was SOC the same day. At the time of the crash it had flown 139 hours.
Pilot - F/O Colin (Snatch) A Grabham RAF (4047162), aged 23. Killed, burial location unknown. He had 136 hours flying time on the Sabre at the time of his death.
A memorial plaque at the top of Sutton Bank in memory of F/O Grabham and also in memory of the crew of a Halifax which crashed nearby on Hood Hill
during the War (This other incident is also detailed on this website).
The crater made by the Sabre still clearly visable fifty years after the crash and will probably always remain.
I first visited the site in July 2003 and found the crater on the hill top. Since then I have returned to the site a number of times.
Photographs of the massive rock this aircraft hit must be in existance, if anyone has one I would love to see it.
Probably part of a turbine blade from the aircrafts engine.
Small fragments of the aircraft are still to be found at the crash site. Since I created this website the number of fragments have decreased substantially. Why anyone
persists in removing such wreckage is beyond me, out of context with the crash site it can have no use or relevance except to the pilots family. A worrying find is that digging has occured at the site in the weeks prior to my last visit
in February 2007, given the violent nature of the crash there must still be human remains on the site, as such the site should be treated with the respect it deserves.
The life of the pilot is still being researched but Colin Arthur Grabham was born in Dover on 3rd February 1931.
My thanks to Mr F Banks of Oldstead for recounting his memories of this crash. Local theory was that after the crash it was thought that the Hill was magnetic and this had somehow effected the aircraft. Tests were
carried out and a number of helicopters and aircraft were seen to circle the hill. This theory was later discounted after no proof was found.