Price: £60.00

Westland Wyvern S4

The Westland Wyvern squats like some mythical beast in the collective subconscious of the British Aviation enthusiast. The origins of the Wyvern lie in the observation by the admiralty of the devastating results torpedo equipped Bristol Beaufighters were achieving in northern waters during world war two. A specification was issued for a high performance ship board fighter plane capable of delivering a torpedo. Westland's responded with a proposal for a massive single engined fighter powered by the proposed Rolls Royce Eagle, a monster 24 cylinder flat H, horizontally opposed sleeve valve liquid cooled engine.

The Wyvern prototype was first flown by Harold Penrose in 1946, and was found to have a very respectable performance with a top speed of 456 mph, despite being considerably heavier than a DC3 transport plane. Unfortunately the teething problems which were the bane of the Wyverns existence began to manifest themselves, arising from the enormous engine and propellor overhang causing bending of the propellor shaft and associated problems. At about this time the British Government ordered Rolls Royce to abandon development of the Eagle to concentrate on gas turbine development, and as as result the Wyvern became an airframe in search of an engine.

Interest now focused on mating the new propellor-turbines being developed to the Wyvern. The engine finally selected was the Armstrong Siddely Python which had been flown onboard an Avro Lancaster testbed, (my father worked on the Python Lancaster incidentally). Such was the power of the Python the Lancaster could easily be flown on one Python. Considerable re-design on the Wyvern airframe to accommodate the much heavier and larger Python had to be done and many brave and dedicated test pilots were lost in getting this beast of an aircraft suitable for squadron service. There were many problems to be overcome, lethally poor longitudinal stability, flame outs of the jet engine when catapult launched, and poor aeleron control when the flaps were lowered. As a result the Wyvern did not reach squadron service until 1953 where by all accounts it was a popular service aircraft with it's pilots. The definitive production version was the Wyvern S(trike) 4 which was cleared to carry external stores.

The Wyvern remained in service until 1958 when the Royal Navy discarded it at the earliest opportunity. Not an important or a sucessful aeroplane, but a unique and fascinating one. For a start if you want to feel small and insignificant, try standing next to the only surviving Wyvern at the Fleet Air Arm museum, it is huge. For another it is the only turboprop single engined fighter to ever enter squadron service, seeing action during the Suez Crisis.

Performance

Maximum level speed: 383 mph at sea level
Weight: 24,556 lb all up weight
Powerplant: One Armstrong Siddely Python turboprop, 3670 lb shp, plus 1,180 lb residual thrust.
Armament: Four 20mm cannon, one 2,250 lb torpedo, or three, 1000lb bombs, or sixteen 90lb rocket projectiles.