Difference between revisions of "Westland"

Revision as of 13:43, 1 June 2010

1917. Ref AA below

1918. Ref AA below

1919. Ref AA below

1923. Ref AA below

1924. Ref AA below

1927. From Flight magazine of 24th November.

1939. From The Aeroplane magazine of 15th December.

of Yeovil

Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil in Somerset.

There is a separate entry for the Westland Aircraft models produced.

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 Short Type 184 seaplanes, followed by 20 Short Type 166 aircraft. R.A. Bruce, former managing director of British and Colonial Aeroplane Co, appointed as managing director.

Orders for other aircraft followed during World War I, including the Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, the de Havilland DH-4, DH-9 and the Vickers Vimy.

When the DH 9 bomber was found to have shortcomings in its design, Westland's drawing office was asked to redesign it to take the American Liberty engine. The success of the DH-9A brought Westland recognition^[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.

After the war, the aircraft industry suffered from cancellation of military contracts; Westland suffered along with the other military suppliers. The design office produced 17 new designs in this period but none was accepted until 1927.

1927 Westland Aircraft Works won the contract for a replacement for the DH-9A, the Wapiti. More than 1000 Wapitis were sold worldwide by the early 1930s, accounting for most of Westland's production between 1927 and 1934^[2].

In 1935 Petters split its aircraft manufacturing from its engine business, forming Westland Aircraft Limited, based in Yeovil, Somerset.

1938 John Brown bought a controlling interest in Westland Aircraft Ltd. Sir Ernest Petter resigned as chairman and sold his shares to Associated Electrical Industries Ltd^[5]. Percival Petter resigned as vice-chairman.

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 the English Electric Co 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. Westland developed an improved version the Widgeon which was not a great success. Success with the Dragonfly was repeated with the Sikorsky S-55 which became the Whirlwind, and a re-engined Sikorsky S-58 in both turboshaft and turbine engine powered designs as 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 helicopter, a development of the Skeeter (the P531) and the Fairey Rotodyne compound helicopter (gyrodyne) 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 Westland Wasp from the P.531 which found favour with the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm respectively.

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.

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 led 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.

GKN 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.

The Westland site at Yeovil is known in the local area as 'Wastelands' and the company as 'Wasteland Helicopters'. Past and present employees also often refer to the company as such.

The former Westland site at the now-disused airfield in Weston-super-Mare houses the Helicopter Museum featuring a number of examples of Westland aircraft. Pride of place is given to an immaculate Westland Wessex HCC Mk.4, formerly of the Queen's Flight.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 There is a separate entry for the [[Westland Aircraft]] models produced.
-* 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 Short Type 184 seaplanes, followed by 20 Short Type 166 aircraft. R.A. Bruce, former managing director of [[British and Colonial Aeroplane]] Co,  appointed managing director.
+* 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 Short Type 184 seaplanes, followed by 20 Short Type 166 aircraft. R.A. Bruce, former managing director of [[British and Colonial Aeroplane Co]],  appointed as managing director.
 * Orders for other aircraft followed during World War I, including the [[Sopwith]] 1 1/2 Strutter, the [[de Havilland]] DH-4, DH-9 and the [[Vickers]] Vimy.