Westland Aircraft

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Westland Aircraft
Founded1915 as Westland Works
1935 as Westland Aircraft on separation from Petters Ltd
Defunct1961 (1961)
FateMerged
SuccessorWestland Helicopters
HeadquartersYeovil, Somerset, England
Key people
ProductsFixed- and rotary-wing aircraft

Westland Aircraft was a British

Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but their Lysander would serve as an important liaison aircraft with the Royal Air Force. After the war the company focused on helicopters, and was merged with several other British firms to create Westland Helicopters
in 1961.

History

Foundation

Westland Wapiti

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

West Hendford which had been earmarked for a new foundry, but ended up becoming the centre for aircraft production.[1] 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 and the Weasel
.

Following the end of war, Westland produced the Limousine and Woodpigeon light aircraft for the civilian market, but most successful was the Wapiti close support aircraft. In 1935 Petters split its aircraft manufacturing from its aircraft engine concerns to form Westland Aircraft Limited, based in Yeovil, Somerset.

World War Two

Westland Whirlwind heavy fighter

The

Whirlwind
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 Lysander 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 Spitfires, after the Supermarine factory in Southampton was bombed out of action during the Battle of Britain; indeed Westlands built more Spitfires than any other manufacturer. Westland would then go on to be the major designers of the Supermarine Seafire, a navalised conversion of the Spitfire.

Post-war success

Westland WS-51 Dragonfly

The Westland Wyvern 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

W.E.W. Petter, the chief designer, who left to form a new aircraft division at English Electric that would go on to be very successful.[2]

Production started with the

Sikorsky S-58 in both turboshaft and turbine engine powered designs as the Wessex
.

In 1952 Westland decided on four helicopter designs for possible development:

None of these Westland helicopters advanced further than the paper study.[6] Westland did progress as a private venture, a large space-frame cargo helicopter design using a Sikorksy rotor head - the Westland Westminster - but this was dropped later in favour of the government funded Fairey Rotodyne.

Forced mergers

From 1959 to 1961 the British government forced the consolidation of 20 or so British aviation firms into three larger groups with the threat of withheld contracts and the lure of project funding. While the majority of fixed-wing aircraft design and construction lay in the

Hawker Siddeley Group, the helicopter divisions of Bristol, Fairey and Saunders-Roe (with their hovercraft) were merged with Westland to form Westland Helicopters
in 1961.

Products

Fixed-wing aircraft

Westland Lysander

Rotorcraft

Westland Whirlwind.
  • 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.[7]
  • Fairey Rotodyne - Westland Aircraft took over the Rotodyne project in May 1960
  • Sikorsky S-51
  • Sikorsky S-58
  • Sikorsky S-55
    /H-19 Chickasaw with British engines.
  • Westland Widgeon a private venture by Westland Aircraft as an improvement on the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly
  • Westland Westminster (1958) – heavy lift helicopter, private venture to prototype stage only
  • Westland Wisp Small remote-controlled helicopter.

Others

Subsidiaries

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

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 1-85306-864-0
    .
  2. ^ He would later leave EE and join Folland to design the Gnat
  3. ^ "Helicopter Projects" Flight 29 August 1952 p267
  4. ^ The World's Helicopters" Flight 1953 p116
  5. ISBN 0-85177-847-X
    page 498.
  6. ^ "Helicopter Forecast from England" Popular Mechanics, March 1951, pp. 88–89.
  7. ^ The Westland Family Flight 1955

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westland Aircraft.
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