Westland Wyvern
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The Westland W.34 Wyvern was a single-seat carrier-based attack aircraft of the 1950s intended to cover a wide variety of roles. Apart from the cannons, rockets, and bombs usually carried by such aircraft, the Wyvern was unusual in that it could also carry a torpedo. Another unusual feature was its contra-rotating propellers.
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[edit] Design and development
Development was plagued by engine problems. The initial prototypes used the Rolls-Royce Eagle 24-cylinder H-pattern engine (A replacement for the failed Vulture and no relation to the company's engine of the same name of World War I vintage). Specification N.11/44 that had led to the aircraft's development had called for an airframe design that would be suitable for turboprop power when this technology was available. In fact, suitable turboprops such as the Rolls-Royce Clyde and Armstrong Siddeley Python became available sooner than the Eagle was perfected, and the Python was used on the 90 production examples instead. Although the first prototype flew on December 12 1946, Wyverns would not enter service for six years.
Wyverns equipped Nos. 813, 827, 830, and 831 Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm, with 830 Sqn flying them into combat from HMS Eagle during the Suez Crisis. All were withdrawn from service by 1958.
[edit] Variants
- TF.Mk 1 - 10 pre-production prototypes
- TF.Mk 2 - The original production version. 13 built, another 7 completed as TF.Mk 4
- T.Mk 3 - Two-seat conversion trainer. One prototype only.
- TF.Mk 4 - The definitive version, later re-designated S.Mk 4
[edit] Production
Total production was 127 aircraft. Of these 39 were lost and there were 68 accidents leading to 13 fatalities including two RAF pilots and one USN pilot.
A single, piston-engined prototype exists, unpainted, at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton, England. It is thought that this aircraft may never have taken to the air and that the engine was never started up.
[edit] Operators
United Kingdom: Fleet Air Arm
- 700 Naval Air Squadron
- 703 Naval Air Squadron
- 764 naval Air Squadron
- 787 Naval Air Squadron
- 813 Naval Air Squadron
- 827 Naval Air Squadron
- 830 Naval Air Squadron
- 831 Naval Air Squadron
[edit] Specifications (Wyvern S.Mk 4)
General characteristics
- Crew: One
- Length: 42 ft 3 in (12.88 m)
- Wingspan: 44 ft 0 in (13.42 m)
- Height: 15 ft 0 in (4.57 m)
- Wing area: 355 ft² (33 m²)
- Empty weight: 15,608 lb (7,095 kg)
- Loaded weight: 21,200 lb (9,636 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 24,450 lb (11,113 kg)
- Powerplant: 1× Armstrong Siddeley Python 3 turboprop, 3,667 hp (2,736 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 383 mph (613 km/h)
- Range: 904 miles (1,446 km)
- Service ceiling: 28,000 ft (8,537 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,350 ft/min (11.9 m/s)
- Wing loading: 60 lb/ft² (292 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.17 hp/lb (0.28 kW/kg)
Armament
- 4x 20 mm Hispano Mk. V cannons in the wings
- 16x underwing rockets or
- Up to 3,000 lb (1,364 kg) of bombs or
- 1x torpedo or sea mine
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