Westland Aircraft was a British

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

manufacturer located in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. Formed as a separate company by separation from

Petters Limited Petters Limited (known as JB Petter & Sons of Yeovil until 1910), were a maker of stationary petrol and diesel engines from 1896 onwards.Petter, Percival. ''The Story of Petters Limited'' (Westbury: David Edgington, 1989) In 1915 Petter founded ...

just before the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but their

Lysander Lysander (; grc-gre, Λύσανδρος ; died 395 BC) was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an en ...

would serve as an important

liaison aircraft A liaison aircraft (also called an army cooperation aircraft) is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages. The concept developed before World War II and ...

with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. After the war the company focused on

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s, and was merged with several other British firms to create

Westland Helicopters Westland Helicopters was a British aircraft manufacturer. Originally Westland Aircraft, the company focused on helicopters after the Second World War. It was amalgamated with several other British firms in 1960 and 1961. In 2000, it merged w ...

in 1961.

History

Foundation

In 1915 the Westland Aircraft Works was founded as a division of Petters in response to government orders for the construction under licence of initially 12

Short Type 184 The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers. It ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

s, followed by 20

Short Admiralty Type 166 The Short Type 166 was a 1910s British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo-carrying folder seaplane, designed by Short Brothers. Development The Short Type 166 was designed as a 'folder' aircraft to operate from the Ark Royal as a tor ...

. Orders for other aircraft followed during

First World War 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 ...

, including the

Sopwith 1½ Strutter The Sopwith Strutter was a British single- or two-seat multi-role biplane aircraft of the First World War.Lake 2002, p. 40. It was the first British two-seat tractor fighter and the first British aircraft to enter service with a synchronised ...

, the

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...

designed

Airco DH.4 The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Air ...

, Airco DH.9 and

Airco DH.9A The Airco DH.9A was a British single-engined light bomber designed and first used shortly before the end of the First World War. It was a development of the unsuccessful Airco DH.9 bomber, featuring a strengthened structure and, crucially, repl ...

and the

Vickers Vimy The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" ...

. The name "Westland" was chosen by Mrs Petter as new land purchased as part of an expansion in 1913 at

West Hendford West Hendford Cricket Ground was a first-class cricket ground in Yeovil, Somerset. The land for the ground was first leased by Yeovil Cricket Club in 1874 and was also used for a range of other sports, most significantly hosting Yeovil Rugby Cl ...

which had been earmarked for a new foundry, but ended up becoming the centre for aircraft production. As a result of the experience gained in manufacturing aircraft under licence, Westland began to design and build its own aircraft, starting with the Westland N.1B in 1917, which was followed in 1918 by the

Wagtail Wagtails are a group of passerine birds that form the genus ''Motacilla'' in the family Motacillidae. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus ''Dendronanthus'' which is closely related to ''Motacilla'' and sometimes included therein. T ...

and the

Weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bo ...

. Following the end of war, Westland produced the

Limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

and

Woodpigeon The common wood pigeon or common woodpigeon (''Columba palumbus''), also known as simply wood pigeon, wood-pigeon or woodpigeon, is a large species in the dove and pigeon family (Columbidae), native to the western Palearctic. It belongs to the g ...

light aircraft for the civilian market, but most successful was the

Wapiti The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

close support aircraft. In 1935 Petters split its aircraft manufacturing from its

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

concerns to form Westland Aircraft Limited, based in

, Somerset.

World War Two

The

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a weather phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow (current) gradients. Whirlwinds occur all over the world and ...

was the UK's first cannon-armed fighter and faster than many other British aircraft at the time but was troubled by the inability of Rolls-Royce to produce the engines. The

army co-operation aircraft was displaced for reconnaissance as too vulnerable but found favour for specialist missions into occupied Europe carrying agents. Westland tendered designs for new aircraft during the war but only the Welkin was accepted. The Welkin was a twin-engine high altitude design to intercept attempts by high-flying German bombers to attack Britain. When the threat never appeared production was limited. For much of the war their factories were used to build

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

s, after the Supermarine factory in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

was bombed out of action during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

; indeed Westlands built more Spitfires than any other manufacturer. Westland would then go on to be the major designers of the

Supermarine Seafire The Supermarine Seafire is a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. It was analogous in concept to the Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised version of the Spitfire's stablemate, the Hawker Hurri ...

, a navalised conversion of the Spitfire.

Post-war success

The

Westland Wyvern The Westland Wyvern was a British single-seat carrier-based multi-role strike aircraft built by Westland Aircraft that served in the 1950s, seeing active service in the 1956 Suez Crisis. Production Wyverns were powered by a turboprop engine dr ...

was a post-war design of carrier-based strike-fighter for the Fleet Air Arm serving up to 1958. Post-war the company decided to get out of fixed-wing aircraft and concentrate solely on helicopters under a licensing agreement with Sikorsky. This upset

W.E.W. Petter William Edward Willoughby "Teddy" Petter (8 August 1908, Highgate in Middlesex – 1 May 1968, Béruges) was a British aircraft designer. He is noted for Westland's wartime aeroplanes, the Canberra, the early design of the Lightning, and his las ...

, the chief designer, who left to form a new aircraft division at

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

that would go on to be very successful. Production started with the

Sikorsky S-51 The Sikorsky H-5 (initially designated R-5 and also known as S-48, S-51 and by company designation VS-327Fitzsimons, Bernard, (general editor). ''Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare'' (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 20, ...

flying for the first time in 1948 and as the Westland-Sikorksy Dragonfly entering service with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

from 1950. Westland developed an improved version the

Widgeon The wigeons or widgeons are a group of birds, dabbling ducks currently classified in the genus ''Mareca'' along with two other species. There are three extant species of wigeon, in addition to one recently extinct species. Biology There are t ...

which was not a great success. Success with the Dragonfly was repeated with the

Sikorsky S-55 The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw (company model number S-55) was a multi-purpose helicopter used by the United States Army and United States Air Force. It was also license-built by Westland Aircraft as the Westland Whirlwind in the United Kingdom. ...

which became the

, and a re-engined

Sikorsky S-58 The Sikorsky H-34 "Choctaw" (company designation S-58) is an American piston-engined military helicopter originally designed by Sikorsky as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft for the United States Navy. It has seen extended use when ad ...

in both

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust ...

and turbine engine powered designs as the

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

. In 1952 Westland decided on four helicopter designs for possible development: * The W-80 which was a 24-passenger short range medium lift helicopter with fixed landing gear and similar to the future Westland Commando in appearance. * The W-81, a high speed, streamlined 32-passenger helicopter, with retractable landing gear and a top speed of . Similar to many modern helicopters of today it had twin turbine engines mounted on the fuselage. * The W-85, a very large helicopter that could lift 15 tons (100 soldiers or their equivalent) in the military version. It was so big that jeeps and medium artillery could be parked side by side internally. Loading and unloading was to be accomplished through a clam shell door on the nose and a retractable ramp in the rear. Power would be from blade tip system, where at the ends of each of the three massive rotor blades was a streamlined pod, with two turbojet engines mounted in each pod. * The W-90, a colossal 450-seat troopship, with three

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphir ...

turbojets mounted on its rotor-tips.James, Derek. Westland Aircraft since 1915: Putnam, 1991. page 498. The W.90 was suggested for development in 1952, with a ( rotor diameter). None of these Westland helicopters advanced further than the paper study. Westland did progress as a private venture, a large space-frame cargo helicopter design using a Sikorksy rotor head - the

Westland Westminster The Westland Westminster was a British helicopter of the 1950s from Westland Aircraft. A large cargo design, it was powered by two turboshaft engines driving a single, five-bladed rotor. Initially unclad, the all-metal airframe was later enclose ...

- but this was dropped later in favour of the government funded

Fairey Rotodyne The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950s British compound gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation and intended for commercial and military uses.British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1 ...

and the

Hawker Siddeley Group Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in list of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers ...

, the helicopter divisions of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, Fairey and

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a co ...

(with their

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

) were merged with Westland to form

in 1961.

Products

Fixed-wing aircraft

* Westland N.1B *

Westland Wagtail The Westland Wagtail was a prototype British fighter aircraft of the First World War. A single-engined tractor biplane, the Wagtail was a failure owing to the unreliability of its engine, only five being built. Development and design The Westl ...

Westland Weasel The Westland Weasel was a prototype British two-seat fighter/reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War. Designed to replace the Bristol Fighter, the Weasel was a single engined tractor biplane. Four prototypes were built, but no productio ...

Westland Limousine The Westland Limousine was a 1920s British single-engined four-seat light transport aircraft built by Westland Aircraft. History At the end of World War I, the prospect of an expanding aviation market led Westland Aircraft to design a light ...

Westland Walrus The Westland Walrus was a British spotter/reconnaissance aircraft built by Westland Aircraft. Design and development In 1919 the Royal Navy had an urgent need for a three-seat spotter/reconnaissance aircraft. To save money, the Airco DH.9A was ...

Westland Dreadnought The Westland Dreadnought was an experimental single-engined fixed-wing monoplane design for a mail plane created to test the aerodynamic wing and fuselage design ideas of Woyevodsky. It was designed and built by British aircraft manufacturer We ...

Westland Woodpigeon __NOTOC__ The Westland Woodpigeon was a British two-seat light biplane designed to compete in the 1924 Lympne light aircraft trials. Design and development The Woodpigeon was a conventional wooden biplane powered by a 32 hp (24 kW) ...

* Westland Widgeon *

Westland Yeovil The Westland Yeovil was a British biplane bomber designed and built by Westland Aircraft in 1923 to meet an Air Ministry Specification for a single-engined day bomber. Development The Yeovil was designed to meet Air Ministry Specification 26/ ...

Westland Wizard The Westland Wizard was Westland Aircraft's first attempt to produce a monoplane fighter. The project was privately funded and the prototype design was done in the spare time of the company's engineers. This all happened during 1926, with high- ...

Westland Westbury The Westland Westbury was a British twin-engined fighter prototype of 1926. Designed by Westland Aircraft it never entered service but played a useful role in the testing of the COW 37 mm gun. Only the two prototypes were completed. Developmen ...

Westland Wapiti The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service. First flying in 1927, the Wa ...

Westland Witch The Westland Witch was an unsuccessful British bomber prototype, first flown in 1928. Only a single aircraft of this type was built. Development The Witch was developed to List of Air Ministry specifications, specification 23/25 for a single-e ...

Westland-Hill Pterodactyl Pterodactyl was the name given to a series of experimental tailless aircraft designs developed by G. T. R. Hill in the 1920s and early 1930s. Named after the genus Pterodactylus, a well-known type of Pterosaur commonly known as the pterodactyl, a ...

series of tailless aircraft *

Westland Interceptor The Westland Interceptor was a fighter developed by the British company Westland Aircraft to Air Ministry Specification ''F.20/27''. When tested in 1929 and 1930, it showed unsatisfactory handling characteristics and was rejected by the RAF in ...

Westland IV The Westland IV and Westland Wessex were British high wing, three-engined light transport aircraft built by Westland Aircraft. Design and development In 1928, Westland began work on a small three-engined airliner, suitable for low volume, "fee ...

and Wessex *

Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter The Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter was an attempt to produce a fighter aircraft armed with a heavy calibre gun. The Coventry Ordnance Works (COW) 37 mm automatic gun was used, which had been developed for this purpose some years earlier. Design a ...

Westland Wallace The Westland Wallace was a British two-seat, general-purpose biplane of the Royal Air Force, developed by Westland as a follow-on to their successful Wapiti. As the last of the interwar general purpose biplanes, it was used by a number of frontl ...

* Westland PV-3 (Houston-Westland) * Westland PV-6 (Houston-Wallace) *

Westland PV.7 The Westland PV.7 was a private venture submission to a 1930s British specification for a general-purpose military aircraft with two crew. It was a single-engined, high-wing monoplane of promise, but was destroyed early in official tests. Desi ...

* Westland F.7/30 *

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...

Westland Whirlwind Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila, ...

Westland Welkin The Westland Welkin was a British twin-engine heavy fighter from the Westland Aircraft Company, designed to fight at extremely high altitudes, in the stratosphere; the word ''welkin'' meaning "the vault of heaven" or the upper atmosphere. Firs ...

Fairey Gannet AEW.3 The Fairey Gannet AEW.3 is a variant of the Fairey Gannet anti-submarine warfare aircraft intended to be used in the airborne early warning (AEW) role on aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy. It was introduced to service in 1959 to replace the ...

- Westland Aircraft took over Gannet AEW.3 production in 1960

Rotorcraft

* Cierva C.29 a joint Cierva / Westland project, built but never flown * Westland CL.20 a two-seater autogiro built by Westland, the designation "CL" coming from Cierva and George Lepere (of Leo et Oliver). The war prevented further production.The Westland Family
''Flight'' 1955 *

Fairey Rotodyne The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950s British compound gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation and intended for commercial and military uses.Westland Dragonfly The Westland WS-51 Dragonfly helicopter was built by Westland Aircraft and was an Anglicised licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-51. Design and development On 19 January 1947 an agreement was signed between Westland Aircraft a ...

a license-built version of the American

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes ...

a turbine-powered version of the

a license-built version of the U.S.

/H-19 Chickasaw with British engines. * Westland Widgeon a private venture by Westland Aircraft as an improvement on the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly *

(1958) – heavy lift helicopter, private venture to prototype stage only * Westland Wisp Small remote-controlled helicopter.

Others

* Westland-Lepere Autogiro * license holder for hovercraft trademark original held by

Subsidiaries

Normalair Normalair-Garrett Limited (NGL), or Normalair, was a British manufacturing company established in 1946 in Yeovil, Somerset, England, which manufactured high altitude life support equipment for the aerospace industry. Since 1999 it has been a wholl ...

was created to continue the development and marketing of the pressure relief valves used in the Welkin project.

Notes

References

* * James, Derek N. ''Westland: A History''. Gloucestershire UK: Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2002. . * Mondey, David. ''Westland (Planemakers 2)''. London: Jane's Publishing Company, 1982. . * James, Derek N. ''Westland Aircraft since 1915''. London: Putnam, 1991.
Wings from the West: 40 years of Westland ''Flight'' 15 April 1955 by H. F. KING, MBE.
*Penros

''Flight International'' 27 May 1965

External links

AgustaWestland official site

* Westland at Helis.com : ttp://www.helis.com/timeline/westland.php timelinean
database section
{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom * Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Yeovil British companies established in 1915 Manufacturing companies established in 1915 da:Westland

History

Foundation

World War Two

Post-war success

Products

Fixed-wing aircraft

Rotorcraft

Others

Subsidiaries

See also

Notes

References

External links