The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by

Wolseley Motors Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers Armaments in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Ed ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It powered later models of the S.E.5a,

SPAD VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and r ...

and other British or British-built aircraft designed for the Hispano-Suiza.

Variants

; Wolseley W.4A Python I ; Wolseley W.4A Python II ; Wolseley W.4A Viper ; Wolseley W.4B Adder I ; Wolseley W.4B Adder II ; Wolseley W.4B Adder III ; Wolseley W.4A Python

Applications

Airco DH.9 The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – was a British single-engined biplane bomber developed and deployed during the First World War. The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successful ...

Avro 552 The Avro 552 was a British light biplane aircraft produced in the early 1920s. It was another attempt by Avro to sell a derivative of the wartime 504 to the civil market. Design and development In this case, the company took advantage of the l ...

Bristol M.R.1 The Bristol M.R.1 was an experimental biplane with an aluminium monocoque fuselage and metal wings, produced by Bristol during the First World War. Two were built to government order. Development Early in the development of powered flight, some ...

Bristol Tourer The Bristol Tourer was a British civil utility biplane produced in the years following the First World War, using as much as possible from the design of the Bristol Fighter aircraft. Bristol Tourers were delivered with a variety of engines, su ...

Cierva C.8 The Cierva C.8 was an experimental autogyro built by Juan de la Cierva in England in 1926 in association with Avro. Like Cierva's earlier autogyros, the C.8s were based on existing fixed-wing aircraft fuselages – in this case, the Avro 552. ...

* Martinsyde F.6 * Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a *

Sopwith Antelope The Sopwith Antelope was a British three-seat transport aircraft built after the end of the First World War. A single-engined biplane based on the Sopwith Wallaby long-range aircraft, only a single Antelope was built. Development and design In ...

Sopwith Cuckoo The Sopwith T.1 Cuckoo was a British biplane torpedo bomber used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and its successor organization, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The T.1 was the first landplane specifically designed for carrier operations, bu ...

Survivors

A Wolseley Viper powered Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a is owned by, and on display at

The Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aeronautical and automotive collection located at the Old Warden Aerodrome, Old Warden in Bedfordshire, England. It is the oldest in the world and one of the most prestigious, due to the variety of old a ...

Old Warden Aerodrome Old Warden Aerodrome is located east southeast of Bedford, in Bedfordshire, England. The privately owned aerodrome serves The Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aeronautical and automotive collection located ...

in the UK.The Shuttleworth Collection - SE5a
www.shuttleworth.org Retrieved: 09 March 2017.

Engines on display

*A preserved Wolseley Viper is on public display at the

Science Museum, London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

. *A preserved Wolseley Viper is on public display at the

Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica de Argentina The National Aeronautics Museum "Brigadier Edmundo Civati Bernasconi" ( es, Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica) is an Argentine museum located in the city of Morón, Buenos Aires. Established in 1960, the museum is dedicated to the history of aviati ...

Specifications (W.4A Viper)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. . {{Wolseley aeroengines

Viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

1910s aircraft piston engines