The Westland Widgeon was a British light aircraft of the 1920s. A single-engined

parasol An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, the Widgeon was built in small numbers before Westland abandoned production in 1929.

Development and design

In 1924, the British

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

, eager to encourage the development of cheap civil aircraft suitable for use by private owners and flying clubs, sponsored a competition for a two-seat ultralight aircraft, which had to be powered by an engine of 1100 cc

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

or less and capable of carrying a load of at least 340 lb (155 kg). To meet this requirement,

Westland Aircraft Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. Du ...

produced two designs, the

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 ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, and the Widgeon parasol monoplane. Unable to decide which design would be superior, Westland decided to build both types.James 1991, p.104. The Widgeon first flew at Westland's

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 ...

factory on 22 September 1924, eight days after the first of two Woodpigeons.James 1991, p.111. Its fuselage, which was very similar to that of the Woodpigeon, was of mixed steel tube and wooden construction, while the wooden parasol wing, which was tapered in both chord and thickness,Flight 25 September 1924, p.624. folded for easy storage. It was powered by a single 1,090 cc

Blackburne Thrush The Blackburne Thrush was a 1,500 cc three-cylinder radial aero-engine for light aircraft produced by Burney and Blackburne Limited. Burney and Blackburne were based at Bookham, Surrey, England and was a former motorcycle manufacturer. F ...

three cylinder radial engine, which produced 35 hp (26 kW).James 1991, p.110. The Air Ministry Light Aircraft competition began at

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympne ...

Aerodrome,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

on 27 September. The Widgeon, which due to the use of the Thrush engine was badly underpowered (as was the Woodpigeon), crashed during the first day of trials. Despite this setback, it was clear that the Widgeon had promise and was superior to the Woodpigeon, and the damaged prototype was rebuilt with a more powerful 60 hp (45 kW)

Armstrong Siddeley Genet The Armstrong Siddeley Genet was a five-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft use built in the UK, first run in 1926. It developed 80 hp at 2,200 rpm in its final form and was a popular light aircraft powerplant. Followin ...

engine as the Widgeon II. Despite its much greater weight, the new engine transformed the Widgeon, the rebuilt aircraft being almost 40 mph (64 km/h) faster.James 1991, p.112. Based on this experience, Westland decided to enter the Widgeon into production for the private owner. It was therefore redesigned with a simpler, constant chord, wing replacing the tapered wing of the Widgeon I and II to ease production. The resulting Widgeon III could be powered either a radial engine like the Genet or an inline engine such as the Cirrus. The first Widgeon III flew in March 1927, with production starting later that year.James 1991, p.114. The design was further refined with a

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of '' Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

tube fuselage and a new undercarriage to produce the Widgeon IIIA. The Widgeon proved expensive compared to its competitors and a total of only 26 of all types, including the prototype, were built and sold before production was stopped in 1930 in order to allow Westland to concentrate on 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 ...

general-purpose military aircraft and 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 ...

airliner.James 1991, p.118.

Variants

;Widgeon I :Powered by one 35 hp

radial engine. One built. ;Widgeon II :Rebuild of Widgeon I with 60 hp

radial. ;Widgeon III :Redesign for production. Powered by

ADC Cirrus The ADC Cirrus is a series of British aero engines manufactured using surplus Renault parts by the Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) in the 1920s. The engines were air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types. They were widely used for private and li ...

II or III inline engine, Genet II radial,

ABC Hornet The ABC Hornet was an 80 hp (90 kW) four-cylinder Aircraft engine, aero engine designed in the late 1920s by the noted British engineer Granville Bradshaw for use in light aircraft. The Hornet was effectively a double ABC Scorpion, S ...

de Havilland Gipsy The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre (300 ...

. 18 built. ;Widgeon IIIA :Variant of Widgeon III with metal fuselage and new undercarriage. Powered by Cirrus or Gipsy engine. Seven built.James 1991, p.120.

Specifications (IIIA)

References

THE WESTLAND "WIDGEON" LIGHT MONOPLANE (No. 6)
. ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

''. 25 September 1924, p. 6243
The Westland "Widgeon III"
. ''Flight''. 28 July 1928. pp. 513–518.

. ''Flight''. 14 March 1929. pp. 206–207. *Jackson, A.J. ''British Civil Aircraft 1919–1972: Volume III''. London:Putnam, 1988. . * James, Derek M. ''Westland Aircraft since 1915''. London:Putnam, 1991. . {{Westland aircraft 1920s British sport aircraft

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 ...

Parasol-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1924

Development and design

Variants

Specifications (IIIA)

See also

References