Avro 707

Avro 707
Type:	Experimental airplane
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Avro
First flight:	September 4, 1949
Number of pieces:	5

The Avro 707 is a single-engine research aircraft from the British manufacturer Avro .

history

In the course of the development of the 698 Vulcan bomber , which began in 1947, Avro decided to build a relatively small and therefore inexpensive aircraft to test the then new delta wing.

This machine, the Avro 707 , completed its maiden flight on September 4, 1949 under the Avro test pilot SE "Red" Esler, who had a fatal accident on September 30, 1949 during a test flight with this machine.

An Avro 707A, 1951.

The second aircraft, known as the Avro 707B , took off on its maiden flight on September 6, 1950 and was used to test the slow flight characteristics of aircraft with delta wings. Like the first machine, the 707B was also equipped with a Rolls-Royce Derwent 5 engine, but had a modified chassis.

The 707B turned out to be a good-natured aircraft, which initially completed about 100 hours of flight under an Avro test pilot and was then handed over to the British Air Force for further tests, where it could also be flown by civilian pilots in order to learn their judgment about the type. From 1952 the 707B was presented to the public at various air shows.

High speed tests were carried out on the third machine named 707A . The machine, which took off on its maiden flight on June 14, 1951, with its air inlets in the wings and also its cockpit design was later built three times the size of the Vulcan . The further developed Rolls-Royce-Derwent-8 engine served as the engine. This aircraft was presented at the Paris Aviation Salon in 1953 and was later brought to Australia for further test flights .

Another machine of the version 707A was manufactured, this was later used as a test vehicle for a new type of thrust control; In addition, one of the originally planned four two-seater machines was created, these were designated as the 707C (also equipped with the Derwent 8 engine).

This machine was available to the Royal Air Force  - later equipped with a fly-by-wire control system - as a test aircraft for supersonic tests until 1967 and, like the two machines of the 707A series, was preserved as a museum piece.

Whereabouts

designation	use	RAF serial no.	First flight	Whereabouts
Avro 707		VX784	September 4, 1949	Crash near Blackbushe on September 30, 1949
Avro 707B	Try at slow speed	VX790	September 6, 1950	Retired in 1960 and scrapped in Bedford
Avro 707A	first pattern for high-speed tests	WD280	June 14 (or July) 1951	Transferred to the Australian Department of Supply for boundary layer tests in 1958, retired in 1967, preserved in the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, Australia
Avro 707A	second pattern for high-speed experiments	WZ736	February 20, 1953	Retired in 1967, preserved in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry
Avro 707C	two-seat pattern to get used to	WZ744	July 1, 1953	Retired in 1967, preserved in the Cosford Aerospace Museum

Technical specifications

Avro 707A in the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester

Parameter	Data of the Avro 707C
length	12.90 m
height	3.57 m
span	10.90 m
drive	a Rolls-Royce Derwent -8 turbojet engine, thrust 1,630 kp
Top speed	approx. 1,100 km / h
crew	2
Empty mass	3,500 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	4,457 kg

See also

• List of aircraft types

Web links

Commons : Avro 707  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

• Barry Jones: Towards the Vulcan (British Experimental Aircraft No. 4 - Avro 707) . In: Airplane Monthly October 1992, pp. 32-38
• AJ Jackson: Avro Aircraft since 1908 , Putnam, 1965, 2nd edition 1990, ISBN 0-85177-834-8 , pp. 439-442
• Bill Gunston: Avro's Baby Deltas . In: Airplane Monthly May 1974, pp. 660-667