The few stories I've heard involve the Wyvern during the Suez crisis where the 'Verns were like A-10's chewing all armor to pieces. The IDF would act as forward controllers and call 'em down. Even fully loaded, the Wyvern was faster than folks thought they'd be.
Like an A-10, they could take a ton of punishment. One was hit by an Egyptian Hunter and the pilot had no idea until returning to the carrier. They only flew three missions: the first at just before dawn to sink any Egyptian warships that would interfere. The torps were successful and they then dropped their 1000lb'ers on the airfields. Having trained the Egyptians, they knew how hopeless they were at air superiority.
The second mission was early morning with 1000lb'ers to take out what few fortifications would hold up the landings. The IDF happily provided ground control. Around noon, the third mission - loaded for bear with 16 rockets cruised the desert at ground level looking for targets of opportunity. The Warpaint issue on the Wyvern contains combat footage.
Germans fighting for the IDF/Foreign Legion that were Eastern Front veterans likened the Wyverns to being as sturdy as the Stormovich, as psychologically scary as the Stuka and deadlier than both. At low level the contra-rotators apparently kicked up a dust cloud that scared the shit out of your enemy. In addition to flinging the Wyvern at ungodly speed.
Best plane the Royal Navy ever embarked. Had Illustrious been off the coast of Singapore with 32 of 'em in 1942, the Japanese would have been boned. I didn't build the box assembly for the torp; apparently that was a shallow mod to allow dropping the fish into the canal or shallow Alexandria. Ha! Pays to know your enemy! You can almost hear the Brits laughing as they built the port to begin with!
Days later, the U.N. - primarily backed by neutral USA - pushed for a cease fire. Shame. Had the UK, IDF and French got their way, we'd probably be enjoying 30 cent a gallon gas by now.
Cheers,
Don
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