Westland Aircraft
3 types ยท 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
Narrative coming soon.
Aircraft Types
Westland Lysander
A British army co-operation and liaison aircraft built by Westland Aircraft, first flown on 15 June 1936 and in RAF service from 1938. Designed to Air Ministry Specification A.39/34 by Arthur Davenport under W. E. W. 'Teddy' Petter, its automatic slats and flaps gave it exceptional short-field performance. Heavy losses in France in 1940 ended its army co-operation career, but that same short-field ability made it the mount of the RAF's special duties squadrons, which landed by moonlight in occupied France to deliver and recover agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Production totalled 1,786 aircraft, including 225 built under licence in Canada; a small number survive, and three still fly.
Westland Wapiti
The Westland Wapiti was a two-seat general-purpose biplane built by Westland to replace the Airco DH.9A, reusing the older type's wings and struts around a new fuselage because the tight-budget 1926 specification demanded maximum use of DH.9A components. First flown on 7 March 1927, it entered RAF service in Iraq in 1928 and spent the 1930s on army-cooperation work in India and the Middle East. History of War counts 517 built for the RAF between 1928 and 1932; of the South African Mk IIIs, four were built at Yeovil and 27 in South Africa. The type also served in Australia, Canada, China and India, an Indian squadron still flew it in action in April 1942, and a single example survives in New Delhi.
Westland Whirlwind
The Westland Whirlwind was a British twin-engined, single-seat fighter of the Second World War, built by Westland Aircraft to Air Ministry specification F.37/35 for a fighter armed with four cannon. First flown on 11 October 1938, it was fast at low altitude, with four 20 mm cannon grouped in its nose, but its Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines were unreliable and lost power with altitude, and in December 1940 production was cut back to the first 112 aircraft. Only Nos. 263 and 137 Squadrons operated it, on convoy patrols and low-level cross-Channel strikes, until 1943. No complete example survives; a full-scale reconstruction is under way for the Kent Battle of Britain Museum.