rare beast shots

[kemplen]

.... been playing with this, ( its the sea hurricane's carrier ) .....







..... I'd loved to of heard one of these, with its double mamba at full tilt ! .... awsome !

..... what do you rekon ?

[Mynameisnemo]

Nice Wyvern ! ! ! ! ! !
pretty nice to fly aswell, if you like the wyvern try out the Gannet found here:
http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/syb.c ... et_ASW.zip

this too has the Double Mamba turboprop.

Nemo

[Hagar]

Very nice shots.

..... I'd loved to of heard one of these, with its double mamba at full tilt ! .... awsome !

..... what do you rekon ?

You're thinking of the Fairey Gannet. The Wyvern was powered by the Armstrong Siddeley Python with a standard contra-rotating airscrew. You might have been disappointed to hear it as it sounded much like any other turboprop. It also suffered from unreliabilty problems. Not a popular aircraft with the pilots.

[Clipper]

Very nice shots.

You're thinking of the Fairey Gannet.

Voila!... The Fairey Gannet

[kemplen]

.......

You're thinking of the Fairey Gannet. The Wyvern was powered by the Armstrong Siddeley Python with a standard contra-rotating airscrew.

... well bottom of the class for my aircraft knowledge ! .... I did know that really but sometimes its just difficult to get the facts out in the right order ! .... what I should of said was with its intended engine .... the rolls royce ..... er .... thingy me bob .... eagle ?

[Hagar]

Ah, not too many people would have heard that beast. 24-cylinder sleeve-valve. I doubt an example exists even in a museum. Found a model of it here. http://www.enginehistory.org/photogallery/photo1095/real.htm

Small photo of the prototype Wyvern fitted with the Eagle.


Westland didn't seem to have much luck with their choice of engines.

[kemplen]

.... isn't that the one thats at yeovilton? .... I'm sure with a bit of tinkering we could run her up  ;D ....

[Hagar]

Could be. According to this it's a Wyvern TF.1 pre-production prototype which has the Eagle engine. Only 10 were built. http://aeroflt.users.netlink.co.uk/mus/uk/fleetair/fleetairarmmus.htm

[ATI_7500]

No comment on the design of both the Wyvern and the Gannet...

[Hagar]

No comment on the design of both the Wyvern and the Gannet...

I have to agree there. With a few exceptions FAA aircraft were not known for their beauty.

[kemplen]

.... ah well, I would have to agree on the gannet, but to me the wyvern has just got something about it, an old guy who lived on my parents road, a former FAA pilot introduced me to pictures of it as child and I built a plastic kit of it, it was in my bedroom for years, it just looked so powerful, and purposefull and mennacing .... the ex-FAA pilot was 'retired' after stuffing in three sea hunters, the fourth was not his fault, there was a pie warming on the jet pipe when he was re-scrambled, and it caused a fire !!, so the story went.

[AndyG]

I have to agree with Kemplen, the Wyvern has got something about it, it looks fit for the purpose.

Actually, despite earlier comments, some RN aircrew did like the Wyvern.  It was a very stable gun platform, and gave them the perfect platform for close-in ground support ops - they did look at further developments, including the addition of tip tanks to increase range.  In many ways very reminiscent of the US 'Sandy' Skyraiders in Vietnam, could probably have filled that role admirably!

AndyG