Post your 'pretty pointless' Avro 707 shots here.

Yes, rolled out in Pink and repainted in Vermillion.
Never seen the pink scheme in colour either.

707A WD280 Red 14 Jul ’51 – Preserved Melbourne

Right, but only from sometime in 1952! WD280 was rolled-out in july 1951 in what is usually termed salmon pink and only later was repainted red: look at this two movie stills, the first is from the 1951 SBAC show and the overall colour is clearly different (lighter) than the second taken at the 1952 show, the key is the contrast with the red center of the fuselage roundel and the finflash.
When I preached for a colour image of this first paintjob I was not joking: I’ve never seen one and it’s often confounded with the pure orange of the second 707 WZ736 so we still need a definitive answer.

You are right Fab, and while I knew it was the silver 707 that crashed, I should have remembered that the red 707 didn’t fly until almost two years after Eslers death.

As a quick round up of the slightly confusing order of designations and serials

707 VX784 Silver 4 Sep ’49 – Crashed 30 Sep ’49
707B VX790 Blue 6 Sep ’50 – Scrapped early ’60s
707A WD280 Red 14 Jul ’51 – Preserved Melbourne
707A WZ736 Orange 20 Feb ’53 – Preserved Manchester
707C WZ744 Silver 1 Jul ’53 – Preserved Cosford

The first two machines were built to spec E.15/48 for low speed research, the last three to E.10/49 for higher speed research, all covered by the OR.229 requirement.

Which led to Avro test pilot Samual Eric ‘Red’ Eslers’ nickname.
Ex 120 sqn Coastal Command and with a DFC, he was prematurely killed at the age of 31 in the 707A at Blackbush on the 30 Sept ’49.
‘pretty pointless’ info maybe but still worth pointing out the human cost of research flying.

The only write-off in the 707 series was the first one VX784, not the Avro 707A, and it was painted silver… perhaps Eslers’ nickname had another origin?

707A WD280 – Red.

Which led to Avro test pilot Samual Eric ‘Red’ Eslers’ nickname.
Ex 120 sqn Coastal Command and with a DFC, he was prematurely killed at the age of 31 in the 707A at Blackbush on the 30 Sept ’49.
‘pretty pointless’ info maybe but still worth pointing out the human cost of research flying.

Seem to remember a photo with four pointy things in formation with a Vulcan or two. What was the colour of the fourth?

Monochrome, as are the other a/c in the shot.

Picture taken by my Father at Farnboro in 1953. 2 No 707A plus the 707B and 707C.

WD280 From my collection. I believe it was SBAC 1951 but stand corrected.
Also VX784 taken at Farnborough Sept 6 1949 just a few weeks before it was lost nr Blackbushe on Sept 30th.
All 4 707s in formation with the 2 B.1s

Wonder what made RAF Finningley Collection/RAFMuseum/Manchester Museum decide to paint/retain the red scheme?

Roger Smith.

From the first post image plus the attached, the colours of the four Avro 707’s at Farnborough 1953 were:-

707A WZ736 – Light Orange/Salmon Pink.

707A WD280 – Red.

707B VX790 – Light Blue.

707C WZ774 – Natural/Silver Grey

Mark

My mistake!

definately 100% taken at Cottesmore BoB display in September 1961,

I re-checked the caption and it is actually taken at Cottesmore, while the aircraft was operated by RAE Bedford. Apologies for the confusion 😮
Cheers
Fabio

707 prototype VX784, Main gear Athena, nose leg Meteor.
707B VX790, Main gear Athena, nose leg Hawker P.1052.
Remainder of production look to be as VX790.

Richard

Thanks – that’s enlightening 🙂

Roger Smith.

Smarty-ar$e. 🙂

Pointless Picture here:

Well that is what they photos reminded me of actually..

707 prototype VX784, Main gear Athena, nose leg Meteor.
707B VX790, Main gear Athena, nose leg Hawker P.1052.
Remainder of production look to be as VX790.

Richard

Hi Pete,
Here you can see it in color, the image is taken from the wonderful book “Military Aircraft of the ’60s” and captioned as september 1961 at Bedford. 😀

Very interesting, I’ve just looked in my brothers photo album where my picture came from and it was definately 100% taken at Cottesmore BoB display in September 1961, it’s surrounded by other pictures of a USAF Delta Dart, Voodoo, RAF Beverley, etc etc, it’s unlikely that the other aircraft parked in the background in the colour photo were exactly the same one’s in the same position and besides, the only time we went anywhere near Bedford in those days was on the train to St Pancras.
I wonder how many other captions the book got wrong.

Bruggen 130, do you have a year for that shot at Finningley – it appears to be still undercarraige-less.

Roger Smith.

Finningly

This one is very pointed, Cottesmore BoB display 1961, it would have been interesting to see it fly in, which one is it, I didn’t note it’s number at the time.

Hi Pete,

this is WZ736, the second airframe preserved in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Here you can see it in color, the image is taken from the wonderful book “Military Aircraft of the ’60s” and captioned as september 1961 at Cottesmore BoB display.
Regards
Fabio Beato

Now if someone had a colour photo of the alleged salmon-pink WD280 at roll-out… 😀

more more more, please,

these are fantastic, the first one is the jewel in the crown.

Is that the tailplane of a Victor behind the 707?

Stare at it a bit then you can just make out the rest of the a/c just in front of the 707 and behind the Vampire – doesnt help it is painted white though!

Jon