Date:	Wednesday 4 February 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Sea Fury TF Mk 10
Owner/operator:	Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE)
Registration:	VB857
MSN:	P.1020/3
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	Farnborough Airport, Farnborough, Hampshire (EGLF)
Destination airport:	Farnborough Airport, Farnborough, Hampshire (EGLF)

Narrative:
Hawker Sea Fury VB857, RAE Farnborough: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 4.2.48 in a landing accident at Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire

The Sea Fury stalled after being caught in a down-draught, caused by a wind eddy around nearby buildings. The aircraft struck the runway from an altitude of 15 feet agl (above ground level), and the port undercarriage collapsed.

Not repaired; became Naval Ground Instructional Airframe. Sent 15.3.48 to HMS Condor, RNAS Arbroath

VB857 was the Sea Fury X prototype built by Boulton-Paul, which was transported to Kingston-upon-Thames in January 1945, and first flew on 31.1.46 with a Centarus XVI engine. Immediately upon completion of the first three airframes, the flight-testing programme began. It was soon discovered that the early Centaurus engine suffered frequent crankshaft failure due to a poorly designed lubrication system, which led to incidents of the engine seizing while in mid-flight. The problem was resolved when Bristol's improved Centaurus 18 engine replaced the earlier engine variant. VB857 later (1947-48) used as the Sea Fury FB.11 prototype with a Centaurus XVIII engine.

1. Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing Aircraft Since 1946 (Ray Sturtivant, Lee Howard & Mick Burrows, Air Britain, 2004, p.353)
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.388
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. RAE Farnborough ORB 1-9-39 to 31-5-48: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/738/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161266
5. https://smhusain1.com/2016/09/24/hawker-sea-fury/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Fury#Naval_version

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Apr-2023 02:33	Dr. John Smith	Added
15-May-2023 10:05	Nepa	Updated