![[S/L CJ Day]](../../metz/choloy/pcholoy/choloy428.jpg)
S/L CJ Day
Details:
17 July 1959 - S/L CJ "Hap" Day, CD
Comments:
S/L CJ "Hap" Day was a pilot with 439 Squadron at 1 (F) Wing, Marville France. He was killed when his aircraft (Sabre #23568) crashed two miles from base.
S/L "Hap" Day was the Officer Commanding 439 Squadron between June 1959 and July 1959.
Extracts from the 1 Wing Historical Narrative:
17 Jul 59
S/L CJ Day was fatally injured in the crash of a Sabre on takeoff. A great loss to the boys on the Squadron and the station as a whole.
21 Jul 59
Funeral held for S/L CJ Day at Toul Cemetery.
Comments from the 439 Squadron web site:
S/L CJ Day assumed command as OC of 439 Squadron on 1 June 1959. S/L CJ Day, DFC, held office for a month and a half before tragedy struck. On Friday morning 17 July, he took off as number two on a practice scramble, crashed just after getting airborne and was killed. The accident took place approximately two miles off the end of the runway and the aircraft burned. The investigation resulted in an obscure classification, and with deep regret, the Squadron pilots attended his funeral in the town of Marville the following Tuesday.
Additional detail from Michael Melnick
Squadron Leader CJ Day, Royal Canadian Air Force Member of the Royal Canadian Air Force since 1948, and son of Mr & Mrs James EC Day of London, England and the husband of the former Melva Gladys Erickson and father of Anita, Patricia and Debra.
While stationed at Marville, France, Squadron Leader CJ Day was killed when his Canadian F-86 Mark VI Sabre Serial Number 23568 crashed two miles from the station on the 17th of July, 1959.
The following is extracted from the 439 Squadron Dairy:
On Friday morning, Squadron Leader Day, flying number two on a practices scramble, crashed on take-off and was killed. The accident took place approximately two miles off the runway and the aircraft burned.
Squadron Leader Day was the Commanding Officer of 439 Tiger Squadron for a short three months at the time of his death. A native of the UK and Squadron Leader Day was a fighter pilot in the RAF during the Second World War flying Spitfires, Typhoons and Tempests from 1942 to 1945.
S/L CJ Day
![[S/L CJ Day Grave Marker]](../../metz/choloy/pcholoy/choloy74.jpg)
![[S/L CJ Day Grave Marker]](../../metz/choloy/pcholoy/choloy74a.jpg)
Grave marker photos courtesy of Malcolm Cromarty - February 2001