Grostenquin, France

Countless technicalities plagued the Sabre during its years in service, and the following incident is typical. The pilot involved was F/O LB Marion: "On the morning of 27 Jan 1956 I was flying Sabre 5 23168 as a No. 2 in a two-plane training flight. We were returning to base with 800 lbs. of fuel. We did a normal pitch-out, and on base I called tower advising them I had three wheels down and locked as the indicators showed. On final I was by runway monitor to overshoot because my right main wheel was not down. On the overshoot I selected wheels up, but all that happened was the indicators for nose and left wheel showed down. The undercarriage light came on and the right wheel showed unsafe. The utility hydraulics showed 3000 lbs. Despite pulling all undercarriage circuit breakers and replacing them and trying the emergency handle for 20 seconds, the indicators and undercarriage warning light remained the same. I then tried bouncing the aircraft on the runway with no success. I dropped the drop tanks on the downwind leg and was advised by the Commanding Officer 2 (F) Wing to bail out. I climbed to 5200 feet and did a normal ejection. The rest of the trip was uneventful".