The Westland Wyvern was the first turboprop fighter to land on an aircraft carrier and the only British turboprop fighter to see combat (the 1956 Suez campaign).Lt. B. D. Macfarlane made history when he successfully ejected under water after his Wyvern had been ditched on an aborted launch and then cut in half by the aircraft carrier HMS Albion in 1954. The aircraft pictured above is an early pre-production aircraft powered by a Rolls Royce Eagle piston engine - this aircraft has never actually flown! The Rolls-Royce Eagle 22 was a 3,200 hp (2,387 kW) supercharged 2,807 in³ (46 Litre) 24-cylinder liquid-cooled H-type aircraft piston engine which was never fully developed due to the arrival of the turboprop engine. Westland Wyvern S.Mk 4 Specifications: - Crew: Pilot only
- Length: 42 ft 3 in (12.88 m)
- Wingspan: 44 ft 0 in (13.42 m)
- Height: 15 ft 0 in (4.57 m)
- 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)
- Engine: Single 3,667 hp (2,736 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Python 3 turboprop
- Propellers: Twin co-axial four-bladed contra-rotating propellers
- 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)
Westland Wyvern S.Mk 4 Armament: - Guns: 4 wing mounted 20 mm Hispano Mk. V cannon
- Rockets: 16 non-guided RP-3 under-wing rockets
Bombs: Maximum of 3,000 lb (1,364 kg) of munitions which could consist of: 3,000 lb of bombs (or)Single Mk-15 or Mk-17 torpedo (or)Single sea mine |
