MACCMA Dinner 2013

A Rolls-Royce test pilot, Mr. K.R. Sturt, flying the prototype Avro Vulcan VX770 in an airshow at RAF Syerston pulls up too hard after a high-speed flyby and exceeds the airframe's structural limits, collapsing the plane's right wing. The craft spirals out of control and crashes, killing the entire aircrew and 3 people on the ground. VX770 was known to have had a weaker wing structure then production aircraft. The aircraft had been testing the Rolls-Royce Conway installation and was returning from a test flight via-Syerston. - 20th September 1958