Hi John,

I think I have a box of those. How many do you need?

Awesome.

An airworthy DH Hornet project was reported in FP years ago

Yes, I remember the article! It was in one of the very first issues I recall. It stated something like: “A few original Sea Hornet parts and engines had been collected together by a group based at Lympe, Kent who had recently bought the Southend Sea Fury.” They intended to have it airworthy “within a couple of airshow seasons”.

Most of these parts made their way to the DH museum, and nothing ever came of it.

Like most aircraft the Wyvern shared some parts with other types. But when these items come complete with some Wyvern provenance it makes them a bit more relevant.
For instance this emergency hand hydraulic pump was found by another forumite (thanks Warren) and still has its ‘REPAIRABLE’ tag. It was removed from WN326 (which incidentally was a Suez war veteran) on ?.4.57 whilst at Fleetlands for modernisation as it was leaking internally.

Another item is this AYF antenna that was originally fitted to the underside of one of the horizontal tail surfaces. Acquired from Robert B (cheers Robs) it was removed as ‘UNSERVICEABLE’ from VZ765 when with 813 sqdn on the 28/8/57. Incidentally VZ765 had a rather undignified ending, as on the 25/3/58 it suffered a partial undercarriage collapse whilst landing onboard HMS Eagle. With the Wyvern coming to the end of its service career it was ditched overboard into the sea three days later.

Rob

Its funny how much these little tags add to the story and interest in the parts themselves. I have several Hornet parts with “serialled” tags too.

Hi Bob

I fear it may be too heavy to bring to next years, unless we stay outside:)

John

That’s ok John, we’ll just wait ’till 2014 and fly her in…. 😀

Having consulted Bruce i thought it would be a good idea to start a dedicated thread for my two projects. Progress on both of these two rare types is always going to be slow, but please keep an eye on here for any new progress. Both projects are based more on collecting, conserving and displaying original material, rather than re-creating a replica / reproduction section.

Always fascinated by ‘the beast’, the project on the Wyvern was started by me over twenty years ago. But with the introduction of the internet which has made it easier to find like minded enthusiasts, some very nice parts & photos etc have been found and acquired since that time – and are still turning up to this day. It has also allowed me i’m pleased to say to make contact with ex Wyvern personnel, whether they are pilots, groundcrew or have had some other involvement with the type. That experience has left me feeling quite humble at times.
To start with i am part way through making up a control column of sorts (not a replica i might add) to allow me to mount either stick top, and to give the cockpit rig a new dimension. It also helps give a better idea of the layout and position of the cockpit equipment together with the aid of the pilots notes. Again the rig is not intended to be a replica of any kind. Its just a way of attaching parts to, to give a representation of the size and the equipment used.

Hi Rob,

I welcome your projects to the forum. Just remember, anyway I can help to further the recreation of these two rare types, you only have to ask. 😉

Now all we need is an East Anglian “Fleet Air Arm” themed museum, and we could display the Wyvern, Sturgeon, and Sea Hornet PR22 together.

“….The bottom of the seat is welded aluminium alloy”.

This is a good start.

So in the absence of an original drawing, I think the best way to re-create one of these seats would be to make an aluminium seat pan (lower part) based on a Spitfire one, and use the AP extracts/photo’s you have of the Whirlwind assembly to reconstruct the support fraimng, armour plate, and fabric padding. Westlands made Spitfires, so maybe there was some cross-pollination of design here??

In post#2 you have shown the isometric diagram of the seat. Item numbers 3+6 are more than likely the standard AS seat riser/locking quadrant parts common to many types. You see these on the Hornet/Vampire/Firefly seats I referred you to earlier.

Hope this helps.