2 January 1959 – F-86K Sabre

On Friday 2 January a Royal Netherlands Air Force F-86K Sabre with serial Q-322 crashed only minutes after take-off from Soesterberg AB.
The new year was just begun when on Friday afternoon round three in the afternoon the F-86K Sabre took off from Soesterberg AB for a normal navigation flight. Directly after take-off pilot Major Ruys noticed a malfunction in the engine of his F-86K and almost immediately the engine caught fire. Major Ruys decided to leave his plane and tried to find a place where he could safely eject and let the Sabre crash. But the moment he lost control, he had to eject. The burning Sabre hit the roof of a coal storage and crashed directly next to it in a nursery garden.
The shed next to the coal storage was immediately ablaze. The owner of the storage was at work in the shed with an employee. The owner was killed in the fire. His employee could be rescued but died two days later in the hospital.

The pilot had only minor injuries.