A hybrid drive wind turbine equipped with a speed regulating differential mechanism can generate electricity at the grid frequency by an electrically excited synchronous generator without requiring fully or partially rated converters. This mechanism has extensively been studied in recent years. To enhance the transient operation performance and low-voltage ride-through capacity of the proposed hybrid drive wind turbine, we aim to synthesize an advanced control scheme for the flexible regulation of synchronous generator excitation based on fractional-order sliding mode theory. Moreover, an extended state observer is constructed to cooperate with the designed controller and jointly compensate for parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. A dedicated simulation model of a 1.5 MW hybrid drive wind turbine is established and verified through an experimental platform. The results show satisfactory model performance with the maximum and average speed errors of 1.67% and 1.05%, respectively. Moreover, comparative case studies are carried out considering parametric uncertainties and different wind conditions and grid faults, by which the superiority of the proposed controller for improving system on-grid operation performance is verified.