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The Westland Wyvern is a British single-seat carrier-based multi-role strike aircraft built by Westland Aircraft that served in the 1950s, seeing service in the 1956 Suez Crisis. Production Wyverns were powered by a turboprop engine driving large and distinctive contra-rotating propellers, and could carry aerial torpedoes.

Design and development

thumb|left|A Wyvern prototype with the Rolls-Royce Eagle piston engine

The Wyvern began as a Westland project for a naval strike fighter, with the engine located behind the pilot, driving a propeller in the nose via a long shaft that passed under the cockpit floor, similar to the Bell P-39. This enabled the pilot to be located in a position that conferred the best possible visibility over the nose for carrier operations. The flight was cut short to only three minutes when shortly after takeoff, the cockpit filled with smoke from a fuel leak onto the exhaust ducting.

Operational history

The first carrier trials were carried out by the first pre-production Wyvern TF.2 aboard on 21 June 1950. Despite this, when the Wyvern S.4 entered service with 813 Naval Air Squadron in May 1953, it had not obtained clearance for carrier operations, this being obtained only in April 1954. The Wyvern was in service with the Fleet Air Arm from 1954 to 1958. Wyverns equipped 813 Squadron, 827 Squadron, 830 Squadron and 831 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm.

In September 1954, 813 embarked with their Wyverns on HMS Albion for carrier-based service in the Mediterranean. The Wyvern soon showed a worrying habit for flameout on catapult launch: the high G forces involved caused fuel starvation. A number of aircraft were lost off Albions bow and Lt. B. D. Macfarlane made history on 13 October 1954 when he successfully ejected under water using his Martin-Baker Mk.1 ejection seat after his aircraft had ditched on launch and been cut in two by the carrier. 813 did not return to Albion until March 1955 when the problems had been resolved. during Operation Musketeer, the armed response to the Suez Crisis. Two Wyverns were lost to damage from Egyptian light anti-aircraft fire; the pilots of both aircraft successfully ejected over the sea and were picked up by Eagles search and rescue helicopter. The squadron returned to the UK on Eagle after this conflict and disbanded in January 1957. Consequently, 813 was the last Wyvern squadron, disbanding on 22 April 1958.

  • 700 Naval Air Squadron (1955-57)
  • 703 Naval Air Squadron (1954-55)
  • 703W Flight (1954)
  • 764 Naval Air Squadron (1955-57)
  • 787 Naval Air Squadron (1954)
  • 813 Naval Air Squadron (1953-55 & 1945-58)
  • 827 Naval Air Squadron (1954-55)
  • 830 Naval Air Squadron (1955-57)
  • 831 Naval Air Squadron (1955-57)
  • Wyvern Conversion Unit at Royal Naval Air Station Ford (1957)

Specifications (Wyvern S.4)

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See also

Notes

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Bussey, Geoffrey. "Type Analysis: Westland Wyvern". International Air Power Review, Volume 9, Summer 2003, pp.&nbsp;168–181. Norwalk, Connecticut: AIRtime Publishing. . .
  • A History of the Westland Wyvern. Camberley, UK: Blackbushe Aviation Research Group, 1973.
  • Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. "Westland's Winged Dragon". Air Enthusiast Quarterly, No. 1, n.d., pp.&nbsp;20–35.
  • James, Derek N. Westland Aircraft since 1915 London: Putnam & Company, 1991. .
  • James, Derek N. Westland: A History. Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing, 2002. .
  • Mondey, David. Westland (Planemakers 2). London: Jane's Publishing Company, 1982. .
  • Ovčáčík, Michal and Karel Susa. Westland Wyvern TF Mks. 1,2, T Mk.3, S Mk.4. Prague: Mark 1, 2003. .
  • Smith, John T. "Wrath of a Mythical Monster: Westland Wyvern Operations in the Suez Campaign" Air Enthusiast No. 74, March/April 1998.
  • Sturtivant, Ray, Mick Burrow and Lee Howard. Fleet Air Arm Fixed-Wing Aircraft Since 1946. Tonbridge, Kent: UK: Air-Britain (Historians), 2004. .
  • Swanborough, Gordon. "Wyvern: Westland's Bedevilled Dragon". Air International, Vol. 52, No. 1, January 1997, pp.&nbsp;28–35. .
  • "Westland W.34 Wyvern." Control Column, Official Organ of the British Aircraft Preservation Council, Volume 11, No. 8, November/December 1977.
  • Williams, Ray. Fly Navy: Aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm since 1945. London: Airlife Publishing, 1989.

Further reading

  • "Westland Wyvern: Design and Development of the Navy's Turboprop Strike Fighter." (pdf) Flight, 15 June 1956. Retrieved: 21 December 2009.
  • The Eagle-engined Wyvern TF.Mk.1 VR137