Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a
British aircraft manufacturer located in
Yeovil in
Somerset, formed just before the start of
World War II. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but their
Lysander would serve as an important
liaison aircraft with the
RAF. After the war the company focussed on
helicopters and was eventually merged with several other British firms to create
Westland Helicopters in 1961. In 2000 it merged with
Agusta to become
AgustaWestland.The company was founded in
1935 when
Petters Limited split its aircraft manufacturing from its
aircraft engine concerns to form
Westland Aircraft Limited, based in
Yeovil,
Somerset. During
World War II the company produced a number of undistinguished military aircraft including the
Lysander, the
Whirlwind and the
Welkin. 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 navalized conversion of the Spitfire.
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, the chief designer, who left to form a new aircraft division at
English Electric that would go on to be very successful.
Production started with building of the
Sikorsky S-51, which became the
Dragonfly, flying for the first time in
1948, and entering service with the
Royal Navy and
RAF in
1953. Success with the Dragonfly was repeated with the
Sikorsky S-55 which became the
Whirlwind, and a re-engined
Sikorsky S-58 using a
turboshaft engine to become the
Wessex.
The chairmanship of Eric Mensforth from
1953-
1968 marked the start of the transition which was aided by the government when in
1959-
1961 they forced the merger of the 20 or so aviation firms into three groups,
British Aircraft Corporation and
Hawker Siddeley Group took over fixed-wing designs, while the helicopter divisions of
Bristol,
Fairey and
Saunders-Roe (with their
hovercraft) were merged with Westland to form
Westland Helicopters in
1961.
Westland inherited the Saro Skeeter and the
Fairey Rotodyne compound helicopter design. They continued to develop the latter sidelining their own
Westland Westminster large transport design.
Westland produced other aircraft under licence from Sikorsky (
Sea King), or Bell (Sioux). They produced their own designs the
Westland Scout and its naval variant the Wasp which found favour with the
Royal Air Force and
Fleet Air Arm.
In the late
1960s the company started a collaboration with
Aerospatiale to design three new helicopters, the
Aérospatiale Puma,
Aérospatiale Gazelle and
Westland Lynx, with the later being primarily a Westland design.
For many years Westland owned the main London
heliport at
Battersea.
 |
Privately owned ex-military Westland Scout AH.1 (XV134) |
Despite good support from the British establishment, the company gradually fell into unprofitability. Sikorsky approached with a bail-out deal in
1985 that split the cabinet and lead to the resignation of Defence Secretary
Michael Heseltine in January
1986 over the fate of Britain's sole helicopter manufacturer. The split, which became known as the
Westland affair was over whether to push the company into a European deal or accept the US company's offer.
Recently examples of the
Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter have also been built by Westland as the
WAH-64, entering full operational service in 2005. Some of the company's Whirlwind and Wessex helicopters served the
Queen's Flight (later merged into
No. 32 Squadron).
GKN plc bought into Westland in
1988, initially acquiring a stake owned by
Hanson plc they soon acquired the shares owned by
Fiat which gave them absolute control. In
1994 Westland became a wholly-owned subsidiary of GKN. It was merged with Finmeccanica's
Agusta helicopter division in
1999. In
2004,
Finmeccanica S.p.A. acquired GKN's share in the joint venture.
*
Westland N.1B*
Westland Wagtail*
Westland Weasel*
Westland Limousine*
Westland Walrus*
Westland Dreadnought*
Westland Woodpidgeon*
Westland Widgeon*
Westland Yeovil*
Westland Wizard*
Westland Westbury*
Westland Wapiti*
Westland Witch*
Westland-Hill Pterodactyl*
Westland Interceptor*
Westland IV and Wessex
*
Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter*
Westland Wallace*
Westland-Houston PV-3*
Westland PV-7*
Westland F.7/30*
Westland Lysander*
Westland Whirlwind*
Westland Welkin*
Westland Wyvern |
Privately owned ex-military Westland Wasp HAS.1. |
*
Westland Dragonfly*
Westland Whirlwind*
Westland Widgeon*
Westland Wessex*
Westland Westminster*
Westland Scout*
Westland Wasp*
Westland Sioux*
Westland Sea King*
Westland Puma*
Westland Gazelle*
Westland Lynx*
Westland 30*
Westland Merlin*
Westland Apache* Derek N James,
Westland: A History, 2002, Tempus Publishing Ltd, Gloucestershire UK, ISBN 0752427725.
*
Westland (company web site)*
The hovercraft of the Westlands Aircraft Group (including Saunders-Roe and British Hovercraft Corporation)*
Westland section at helis.com Helicopter History site
