Date:	Friday 30 September 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Avro 707
Owner/operator:	Avro Aircraft Ltd
Registration:	VX784
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Blackbushe, Yateley, Hampshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough, Hampshire (EGUF)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
VX784 was the prototype Avro 707A. First flew at Boscombe Down 4th September 1949. It was shown at the 1949 SBAC Farnborough Air Show a few days later, but did not last long - just 23 days.

The Avro 707 delta-wing research aircraft prototype crashed near Blackbushe, Hampshire, on 30 September 1949 killing Avro's deputy chief test pilot, Mr. Samuel Eric Esler DFC, AE. Early test flights resulted in adjustments to all control surfaces, the operation of which was judged too heavy. This flight was to clear the alterations made and the pilot was advised to avoid the stall since no anti-spin parachute was fitted

Per a report in "Flight International" Magazine 31/01/1958:

"The 707 bore the serial number VX784 and it was taken into the air for the first time by Flt Lt. S. E. Esler on September 4, 1949 (and thus was the second delta-wing aircraft to fly in the world). During the following week the aircraft flew about three hours and the handling characteristics were proved to be quite satisfactory—in fact little different from those of conventional aircraft. It was exceedingly unfortunate that the aircraft crashed shortly afterwards, killing Eric Esler, but the cause of the accident was in no way traceable to the delta configuration"

1. Flight International 6 Oct 1949
2. Buttler, Tony. "Avro Type 698 Vulcan (Database)." Aeroplane, Vol. 35, No. 4, Issue No. 408, April 2007.
3. Buttler, Tony and Jean-Louis Delezenne. X-Planes of Europe: Secret Research Aircraft from the Golden Age 1946-1974. Manchester, UK: Hikoki Publications, 2012. ISBN 978-1-902-10921-3
4. Cooper, Peter J. Farnborough: 100 years of British Aviation. Hinkley, UK: Midland Books, 2006. ISBN 1-85780-239-X.
5. Harlin, E.A. and G.A. Jenks. Avro: An Aircraft Album. Shepperton, Middlesex, UK: Ian Allan, 1973. ISBN 978-0-7110-0342-2.
6. Jackson, A.J. Avro Aircraft since 1908. London: Putnam & Co., 1965.
7. Jackson, Robert. Combat Aircraft Prototypes since 1945. New York: Arco/Prentice Hall Press, 1986. ISBN 0-671-61953-5.
8. Winchester, Jim. "Avro 707 (1949)". X-Planes and Prototypes. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-40-7.
9. "Hewitt 2003, Ireland's Aviator Heroes of World War II, p. 168"
10. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/29/W2465: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5995027
11. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/43: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5995027
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_707
13. http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/entry.php?id=195
14. Flight magazine 31 October 1958: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958
15. http://www.verdon-roe.co.uk/#/pictures--videos-avro-aircraft/postwar/707/707/avro707vx784
16. https://www.baesystems.com/en-uk/heritage/avro-707
17. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=19299.0
18. https://www.facebook.com/airwaysmuseum/posts/this-is-the-first-prototype-avro-707-vx784-the-type-itself-being-an-experimental/3890922617594108/
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbushe_Airport

Avro 707A VX784 at the SBAC Farnborough Air Show, 7 September 1949

30 September 1949. First prototype of the Avro 707 VX784 (also known as Type 707), British experimental aircraft built to test tailless thick delta wings, crashed due to loss of control at low speed near Blackbushe, killing Avro test pilot Samuel Eric Esler. pic.twitter.com/JfhB2AyGGY

— Ron Eisele (@ron_eisele) September 29, 2021

pic.twitter.com/iUekzS3ZcU

— Duncan Kime (@duncankime) August 7, 2021

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jan-2011 13:19	harro	Added
29-Apr-2013 18:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Dec-2019 17:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]