The last moments of YF2Y-1, 137562, and sadly Charles Richbourg.
November 4, 1954.
Inset top is the aircraft moments before the structural failure,
with a small line visible where the wing skin is
cracking. The Sea Dart had entered a high speed porpoise, and
high rate pitch oscillations which the pilot
could not dampen manually with the pitch control caused the
aircraft to exceed its ultimate load factor and break up.
Modern aircraft avoid this kind of accident by virtue of fly by
wire systems and are less stable than the Sea Dart was.
Lower inset is a fine source for all the details of the five Sea
Darts, Naval Fighters No. 23 published by Steve Ginter.
Photos from Convair via NF 23 and Steve Ginter.
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