Date: 31-OCT-1949 Time: day Type: Westland Wyvern TF Mk 2 Owner/operator: Westland Aircraft Registration: VP113 C/N MSN: 12/45 Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 3 Airplanedamage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Yeovil, Somerset - United Kingdom Phase: Landing Nature: Test Departureairport: Yeovil, Somerset Destinationairport: Yeovil, Somerset Narrative:
At the completion of a test flight the pilot made a fast, low level run across the airfield in the course of which the Wyvern's engine failed.
The pilot pulled the plane up to 2,500 feet and then attempted a forced landing on the airfield.
Crossing the boundary fence at an estimated two hundred miles per hour, the Wyvern touched down 3/4 of the way across the airfield, overshooting and crashing into a housing estate near the boundary.
One house was demolished by the impact, and 3 occupants were killed.
Sqdn-Ldr M.A Graves DFC, Westland test pilot, and three other persons R.I.P.
VP113 was the second prototype Wyvern fitted with the Armstrong Siddley Python turboprop. In the event, only 20 Mk 2s were built before 87 production TF. Mk4s were delivered to the Royal Navy. This latter marque differed in minor ways, but had small fins attached to the tailplane to counter a longer spinner.
W.35 Wyvern TF.2
The original production version. Three prototypes were ordered in February 1946 with a production contract for 20 aircraft issued in September 1947. Only nine production aircraft were built, and the remaining eleven were completed as S.4s.
....and...
W.35 Wyvern TF.4
The definitive version. 50 were ordered in October 1948, 13 in December 1950, 13 in January 1951 and a final 11 in February 1951. A total of 98 built (including 11 that had started as TF.2s). The model was later redesignated as the S.4