The Westland WS-70 Wyvern is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Westland Helicopters. It entered service in the late 1970s.
The Westland WS-70 Wyvern was designed to meet the RAF and RN's need to replace Westland WS-58 Wessex and Westland WS-59 Wiltshire, it has 2 different variants, the early models which due to lack of powerful engines used as an interim, the 1,660shp Rolls-Royce H.1400-2 Gnome turboshaft engine.
The Westland WS-70 Wyvern in the 1980s was upgraded with new avionics and redesign to fit new 2100 shp Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322-01 turboshaft engines.
In the 1990s, the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy would mate the systems form the AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin to the Westland WS-70 Wyvern's airframe to create the Sea Wyvern which alongside the Merlin would replace the Westland WS-61 Commando.
Variants[]
- WS-70A-1: Desert Hawk; variant for Arabian military
- WS-70A-1L: Arabia Desert Hawk Medevac variant
- WS-70A-5: Variant for Philippine Air Force
- WS-70A-9: Variant for Australian Army, licence-built by de Havilland Australia
- WS-70A-11: Variant for Jordanian Air Force
- WS-70A-12: Search and rescue variant for the Republic of Japan Air Force (RoJAF) and Republic of Japan Navy (RoJN).
- WS-70A-14: Variant for Royal Brunei Air Force; one in civil use by the Government of Brunei
- WS-70A-16: Test model fitted with Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines
- WS-70A-17: Variant for Turkish military
- WS-70A-21: Variant for Egyptian military
- WS-70A-26: Variant for Moroccan military
- WS-70A-27: Variant for Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force
- WS-70A-33: Variant for Brunei, used as civil transport by the government
- WS-70A-42: Variant for Austrian Armed Forces
- WS-70A Firehawk: Firefighting variant
- WS-70B-1 Sea Wyvern: Anti-submarine version for the Spanish Navy.
- WS-70B-28 Seahawk: Export version for Turkey.
- WS-70C(M)-1/2 Thunderhawk: Export version for the Republic of China Navy, equipped with an undernose radar and a dipping sonar. The *WS-70C(M)-1 has the CT7-2D1 engines whereas S-70C(M)-2 is uprated with the T700-GE-401C turboshafts.
- WS-70C-2: 24 radar-equipped Wyvern for China.
- WS-70C-6 Super Blue Hawk: Search-and-rescue helicopter for Republic of China Navy equipped with undernose radar, plus provision for four external fuel tanks on two sub wings.
- WS-70C-14: VIP transport version for Brunei; two built.
- WS-70A (N) Naval Hawk: Maritime variant that blends the S-70A Black Hawk and S-70B Seahawk designs.
- WS-70C Firehawk: Firefighting variant
- WS-70I:
- WS-70M:
- Military
- 1st Generation
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.1: transport variant built for the Royal Air Force and South African Army
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HAR.1: Search and Rescue variant built for the Royal Air Force
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HCC.1: VIP transport variant built for the Royal Air Force
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern E.1: Electronic Warfare variant built for the British Army
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.11: transport variant built for the Australian Army
- 2nd generation
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.2: transport variant built for the RAF and South African Army
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HAR.2: Search and Rescue variant built for the RAF
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HCC.2: VIP transport variant built for the RAF
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern E.2: Electronic Warfare variant built for the British Army
- Westland WS-70 Sea Wyvern HAS.3: Anti-Submarine Warfare variant built for Royal Navy
- Westland WS-70 Sea Wyvern HCC.4: VIP transport variant built for the No.32 Sqn Royal Flight
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.21: transport variant built for the Australian Army
- Westland WS-70 Sea Wyvern HAS.21: Anti-Submarine Warfare variant built for Royal Australian Navy
Operators[]
- Australia
- Royal Australian Navy
- Australian Army
- UK
- British Army
- Royal Air Force
- Royal Navy
- South Africa
- South African Army
Accidents[]
- On 29 July 1992, one Australian Army Wyvern HC.21 collided into terrain near Oakey Army Aviation Centre, killing two occupants.
- On 12 June 1996, A25-113, a Westland Wyvern HC.21 of the 5th aviation regiment from the Australian Army with 13 aboard and A25-209, a Westland Wyvern HC.21 of the 5th aviation regiment from Australian Army with 15 aboard were carrying out a night-time counter-terrorism training operation in a 6 helicopter flight when they collided during an Army night time special forces counter-terrorism exercise near Rollingstone, Queenstown resulting in the death of 18 people, all 13 aboard A25-113 and 6 of the 15 aboard, the victims were made up of 15 members of the SASR and three from the 5th Aviation Regiment.
- On 12 February 2004, A25-216, a Westland Wyvern HC.21 of the Australian Army collided into terrain in the vicinity of Mount Walker, Queensland following contact between the tail rotor and a tree, of the 8 people aboard, 6 were wounded but no-one was killed.
- On 29 November 2006, A25-221, a Westland Wyvern HC.21 with 2 crew and 8 passengers crashed into and subsequently slid off the deck of HMAS Kanimbla sinking into deep waters off the coast of Fiji while conducting a training flight, the sinking resulted in the deaths of 2 of the 10 people aboard, one pilot from the 5th Aviation Regiment, and one trooper from the SASR.
- On 2 January 2020, a WS-70 Wyvern helicopter of the Republic of China Air Force in Taiwan, crashed on a mountainside, killing eight people on board, including General Shen Yi-ming, chief of the general staff of Republic of China's armed forces.
- On 23 June 2021, a Philippine Air Force WS-70i crashed in Capas town in Tarlac during a night flight training, killing all 6 crew members. The unit was newly delivered in November of the previous year or only almost 8 months old.
