Capt Eric Brown said …’I was just about as impressed with the Wyvern as I was with the Firebrand and that is not saying much’…hardly a recommendation from one of the RN’s top test pilots !!

TP Trainer = Tincano :rolleyes:

cheers baz

I think he only ever flew the Eagle engined third prototype and not a Python engined example. Maybe his opinion would have been the same but in contrast it would seem that most service pilots were generally happy with it, including those that went to war in it.!

As for rose tinted spectacles i don’t think anyone could be accused of that given its well documented history of taking lives, but many just like me would dearly love to see a complete S4 service variant standing on the ramp somewhere…

What’s the story behind the canopy? How did it survive. I’m always interested how object survive decades and then get saved.
Fascinating stuff
Cheers

Cees

I bought it from a guy near Brighton, who related to me that it had come from Westlands stores and when he acquired it was still wrapped in the remains of some brown paper, hence it has never been used!

Ok, oops Gosport it was. So you have a canopy and a set of main wheels. All you have to do next to fill in the space in between and voila the population of Wyvverns has doubled.;):D

Cheers

Cees

Nice idea, all contributions gratefully received!!:D

Generally it was reliable but when things went wrong, usually to do with the props and or engine, it went in one direction (down) very quickly.

It did suffer more than its fair share of accidents but considering its size, weight and long nose, not to mention a complex propeller system and relatively untried engine, thats hardly surprising!

None were disposed of from carriers. All of the surviving examples were scrapped at Lossiemouth. Full histories are in “Fleet Air Arm Fixed-Wing Aircraft since 1946”, Air-Britain, Sturtivant, Burrow, Howard, 2004.

The aircraft had not been reconditioned by the manufacturers, but at RNAY Fleetlands, Hampshire.

I remember a story about a Wyvern which forced-landed at Seaton in Devon. It came down in soft ground and, weighing as much as a fully-loaded Dakota they were unable to salvage it and it was abandoned where it lay.
If it sank into the mire you may get a very nice Python with propellers and possibly the cockpit out, if it is still there.
Don’t ask me for any more info ‘cos that’s all I know. Perhaps some of the Wyvern experts out there may be able to fill in the details.

Yes this was the sole two seat trainer version T.Mk.3 VZ739 fitted with a Python 1, which force landed after turbine failure near Seaton, Devon on 3rd Nov 1950. After 3 weeks of trying to free it from the marshy ground it was finally written off and i think cut up.

Weren’t a lot of Wyverns dumped off a carrier somewhere? Possibly in the Irish Sea? These might be more easily recoverable and in better condition than one dumped in a chalk pit.
There was an article in AB’s Aeromilitaria a few years ago which gave the ultimate fate of each Wyvern.
Jim

The only Wyverns i know of that were dumped over the side of carriers were those that suffered some sort of accident at sea and were deemed uneconomical to repair.

The vast majority were flown direct to Lossie in 1958, including some that had quite literally just been reconditioned by the manufacturers. It appears the navy could’nt wait to see the back of it, hence why so little survives today!

I’ve scanned the page from AP.129 that gives the differences between variants of Mark 2 seats, it’s at: http://www.btinternet.com/~philip.morten/AP129_Vol1_Part1_Sect5_Chap5_Table2.pdf. Hope this helps.

Many thanks Philip.

Another article which quotes the Mk.2b as having no footrests, yet the pilots notes and picture i have state differently. Early and late versions perhaps..