 | |
| Industry | Aircraft |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1915 as Westland Works 1935 as Westland Aircraft on separation fromPetters Ltd |
| Defunct | 1961 (1961) |
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor | Westland Helicopters |
| Headquarters | Yeovil,Somerset, England |
Key people | |
| Products | Fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft |
Westland Aircraft was a Britishaircraft manufacturer located inYeovil,Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation fromPetters Limited just before the start of theSecond World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but theirLysander would serve as an importantliaison aircraft with theRoyal Air Force. After the war the company focused onhelicopters, and was merged with several other British firms to createWestland Helicopters in 1961.
In 1915 theWestland Aircraft Works was founded as a division of Petters in response to government orders for the construction under licence of initially 12Short Type 184seaplanes, followed by 20Short Admiralty Type 166. Orders for other aircraft followed duringFirst World War, including theSopwith 1½ Strutter, thede Havilland designedAirco DH.4,Airco DH.9 andAirco DH.9A and theVickers Vimy. The name "Westland" was chosen by Mrs Petter as new land purchased as part of an expansion in 1913 atWest 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 theWestland N.1B in 1917, which was followed in 1918 by theWagtail and theWeasel.
Following the end of war, Westland produced theLimousine andWoodpigeon light aircraft for the civilian market, but most successful was theWapiti close support aircraft. In 1935 Petters split its aircraft manufacturing from itsaircraft engine concerns to formWestland Aircraft Limited, based inYeovil, Somerset.
TheWhirlwind 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.TheLysander 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 theWelkin 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 did not appear production was limited.
For much of the war their factories were used to buildSupermarine Spitfires, after the Supermarine factory inSouthampton was bombed out of action during theBattle of Britain; indeed Westlands built more Spitfires than any other manufacturer. Westland would then go on to be the major designers of theSupermarine Seafire, a navalised conversion of the Spitfire.
TheWestland 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 withSikorsky. This upsetW.E.W. Petter, the chief designer, who left to form a new aircraft division atEnglish Electric that would go on to be very successful.[2]
Production started with theSikorsky S-51 flying for the first time in 1948 and as theWestland-Sikorksy Dragonfly entering service with theRoyal Navy andRAF from 1950. Westland developed an improved version theWidgeon which was not a great success. Success with the Dragonfly was repeated with theSikorsky S-55 which became theWhirlwind, and a re-enginedSikorsky S-58 in bothturboshaft and turbine engine powered designs as theWessex.
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 - theWestland Westminster - but this was dropped later in favour of the government fundedFairey Rotodyne.
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 theBritish Aircraft Corporation and theHawker Siddeley Group, the helicopter divisions ofBristol,Fairey andSaunders-Roe (with theirhovercraft) were merged with Westland to formWestland Helicopters in 1961.
Normalair was created to continue the development and marketing of the pressure relief valves used in the Welkin project.
