Westland Wyvern The Westland Wyvern was a British single - seat carrier - based multi - role strike aircraft built by Westland Aircraft that served in the 1950s , seeing active service in the 1956 Suez Crisis . Production Wyverns were powered by a turboprop engine driving large and distinctive contra - rotating propellers and could carry aerial torpedo es . Design and development . The Wyvern began as a Westland project for a naval strike fighter , with the engine located behind the pilot and driving a propeller in the nose via a long shaft that passed under the cockpit floor . This enabled the pilot to be located in a position that conferred the best possible visibility over the nose for carrier operations . Official interest resulted in Air Ministry Specification N . 11 / 44 , for a long range naval fighter using the Rolls - Royce Eagle 22 24 - cylinder H - block piston engine — unrelated to the First World War - era engine of the same name — being issued to cover Westland ' s design . The specification also called for an airframe design that would be able to take a turboprop engine when a suitable unit was available . There was a parallel specification for the Royal Air Force , F . 13 / 44 , for which Hawker submitted the competing P . 1027 ; a development of the Tempest . The RAF variant was cancelled when in 1945 it was decided that all future fighter aircraft would be jet powered . The original design soon matured into the more conventional Westland W . 34 , with the 3 , 500 hp ( 2 , 610 kW ) Eagle engine in the nose driving large contra - rotating propellers and the pilot sitting high in a humped fuselage to improve visibility . The design was otherwise orthodox , with a low wing , tail - wheel undercarriage and double - folding wings fitted with both Youngman flaps on the inner wing section and conventional flaps on the outer section . The W . 34 was to be armed with four Hispano 20 mm cannon in the wings and have the ability to carry a torpedo under the fuselage or a selection of bombs and rockets under the wings . The prototype W . 34 ; the Wyvern TF Mk 1 , first flew at Boscombe Down on 16 December 1946 with Westland ' s test pilot Harald Penrose at the controls . This aircraft was lost on 15 October 1947 when the propeller bearings failed in flight . Westland ' s assistant test pilot Sqn . Ldr . Peter Garner was killed attempting to make an emergency landing . From prototype number 3 onwards , the aircraft were navalised and carried their intended armament . At around this time , the Eagle engine was cancelled and it was found that there were insufficient pre - production engines available to complete all the prototype and pre - production aircraft . Specification N . 12 / 45 was therefore issued for the Wyvern TF . Mk . 2 , to be powered by a turboprop engine : either the Rolls - Royce Clyde or the Armstrong Siddeley Python . A single Clyde - powered prototype was ordered along with two with Pythons . A Clyde - powered TF 2 first flew on 18 January 1949 . Both the piston - powered and turboprop versions shared many common components including wing and tail units , and essentially the same basic cockpit structure . The flight was cut short to only three minutes when shortly after takeoff , the cockpit filled with smoke from a fuel leak onto the exhaust ducting . The Clyde was cancelled after only 50 hours of flight time for the TF 2 , and the aircraft was delivered to Napier & Son to be fitted with the Nomad turbo - compound engine . The latter engine never materialised , however and this aircraft was used for crash barrier trials . The first Python - powered TF . 2 flew on 22 March 1949 and this aircraft introduced the ejection seat to the Wyvern . Twenty TF . 2s were completed to the Python design although after three years of testing what was then a revolutionary aircraft design , a myriad of detailed aerodynamic changes resulted . The Python engine responded poorly to minor throttle adjustments , so control was exercised by running the engine at a constant speed and varying the pitch of the propellers . The aircraft was declared ready for service in 1952 , but never reached an operational squadron . The definitive Wyvern mark was the TF . Mk . 4 , later S . Mk . 4 . Initially , 50 Mark 4s were ordered and were joined by the last seven TF . 2s , which were altered while still under construction . Mk . 4s reached limited shore - based front line service in May 1953 with 813 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Ford , replacing the somewhat similar ( and equally troubled ) Blackburn Firebrand . Several second line squadrons also received Wyverns around this time . Total production was 127 airframes with 124 aircraft completed , as the last three Eagle piston engined airframes , VR138 / VR140 , were never completed . Operational history . The first carrier trials were carried out by the first pre - production Wyvern TF . 2 aboard HMS " Illustrious " on 21 June 1950 . Despite this , when the Wyvern S . 4 entered service with 813 Naval Air Squadron in May 1953 it had not obtained clearance for carrier operations , which was not obtained until April 1954 . The Wyvern was in service with the Fleet Air Arm from 1954 to 1958 . Wyverns equipped 813 Squadron , 827 Sqn . , 830 Sqn . and 831 Sqn . of the Fleet Air Arm . In September 1954 , 813 embarked with their Wyverns on HMS " Albion " for carrier - based service in the Mediterranean . The Wyvern soon showed a worrying habit for flameout on catapult launch ; the high G force s resulting in fuel starvation . A number of aircraft were lost off " Albion ' s " bows and Lt . B . D . Macfarlane made history when he successfully ejected from under water after his aircraft had ditched on launch and been cut in two by the carrier . 813 did not return to " Albion " until March 1955 when the problems had been resolved . 830 Sqn . took the Wyvern into combat from HMS " Eagle " , flying 79 sorties during Operation Musketeer ; the armed response to the Suez Crisis . Two Wyverns were lost to Egyptian light flak damage ; both pilots of the downed aircraft successfully ejected over the sea , and were picked up by " Eagle " ' s search and rescue helicopter . The squadron returned to the UK on " Eagle " after this conflict and disbanded in January 1957 . Consequently , 813 was the last Wyvern squadron , disbanding on 22 April 1958 . All Wyverns were withdrawn from service by 1958 : while in service and testing there were 68 accidents , 39 were lost and there were 13 fatalities ; including two RAF pilots and one US Navy pilot . Survivors . An unflown pre - production aircraft , the last to be fitted with the original Eagle piston engine , ( serial number " VR137 " ) is on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton , England .