Prototype Skycatcher crashes.

Flying-A…
Actually I was referring to flight test accidents.
In the old (pre-internet…where the daily FAA accident report is available for the clicking) days I think firms did their best to downplay coverage of accidents of GA prototypes.

You might read a vague something about them (long after the fact) in Flying magazine but that was about it unless you were an industry “insider”.

but I understand that losses of SE planes weren’t all that rare back in the glory days of GA aircraft in the 50s-70s

Indeed! While researching the crash of the Chase YC-122 on 11 January 1967, I was stunned to discover that there had been 13 accidents involving single engine GA aircraft on that day in the United States. Two were fatal:

One involved another aircraft that vanished over water, a Globe GC-1B Swift that disappeared over Lake Michigan while flying from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to Benton Harbor, Michigan. The sole occupant, the pilot, was never found and presumed dead.

The other was a Cessna 150 that crashed near Farwell, Texas (in the Texas Panhandle along the Texas-New Mexico state line, near Clovis, NM). All three persons aboard — pilot and two passengers — died. There are three additional twists of the knife in this case: one of the passengers was seven years old; the other was six; and the probable cause includes “UNWARRANTED LOW FLYING.”

That same day, there were four GA twin accidents as well, for a grand total of 18. The day was a Wednesday in winter, so we can’t blame that high number on the skies being full on a warm weekend.

I’ve never seen much written about the topic (there’s not alot written about GA aircraft in general) but it would be intestinng to learn about GA aircraft testing and the prototypes lost in crashes.

A few (primarily bizjets) make the news when they crash during flight tests, but I understand that losses of SE planes weren’t all that rare back in the glory days of GA aircraft in the 50s-70s.