Vulcan-Bomber zerfällt vor laufender Kamera

Video from the channel Dark Footage about Avro Vulcan, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 5:08. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Narrated piece about the destruction of VX770, the first Avro Vulcan prototype, during the Battle of Britain display on 20 September 1958 at RAF Syerston (Nottinghamshire). It reconstructs the event from film footage shot by a spectator.

VX770 took off from the Rolls-Royce airfield at Hucknall to test the Rolls-Royce Conway engines, which had replaced the original Sapphires and Avons. It carried four crew members: three Rolls-Royce employees and one RAF navigator. If time remained after the test, it was to fly over the display, with two low-level passes planned at 80% power.

Around 12:55 the aircraft arrived from the west. As it passed the control tower, a wrinkle appeared on the leading edge of the starboard wing: the wing became covered in fuel vapour, the tip separated and the main spar failed. The aircraft came down at the end of the runway and destroyed a rescue Land Rover. All four crew members and three RAF personnel died. About six seconds passed between the first sign of failure and impact, and the wreckage was scattered over some 1,400 yards. The investigation attributed the accident to structural failure of the starboard wing. An investigator called in by Rolls-Royce also noted that the pilot had exceeded the speed and turn limits set for the prototype. The Royal Aircraft Establishment examined the wreckage in April 1960, but no copy of its report has been found.