Westland Helicopters

Westland Helicopters was a British aerospace company. Originally Westland

Westland Helicopters
Aircraft, the company focused on helicopters after the Second World War. It was
amalgamated with several other British firms in 1960 and 1961. In 2000, it
merged with Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta to form AgustaWestland,[1]
which in turn merged into Leonardo-Finmeccanica in 2016. Industry Aerospace
Fate Merged/Acquired
Predecessor Westland Aircraft
Contents Bristol Aeroplane
Company
History Fairey
Origins Saunders-Roe
1960s
Successor AgustaWestland
1970s
Leonardo-
1980s
Finmeccanica
1990s
Founded 1961
Products
Helicopters Defunct 2000
Hovercraft Headquarters Yeovil, Somerset,
Rockets and missiles United Kingdom
Precision gears
Products Rotary-wing aircraft
See also
Parent Leonardo S.p.A.
References
Website www
External links
.agustawestland
.com/index.html (htt
p://www.agustawest
History land.com/index.htm
l)

Origins
Westland Aircraft was founded in 1935 when Petters Limited split its aircraft
manufacturing from its aircraft engine concerns. During the Second World War
the company produced military aircraft including the Lysander, the Whirlwind
and the Welkin.

After the war, the company began to build helicopters under a licensing
agreement with Sikorsky. From the mid-1950s the company came to
increasingly concentrate on helicopters, eventually to the exclusion of other
types. Production started with the Sikorsky S-51, which became the Westland
Entrance to AgustaWestland's works
Dragonfly, flying for the first time in 1948 and entering service with the Royal
in Yeovil, England
Navy and Royal Air Force 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.
1960s
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 Cierva

W.14 Skeeter and the Fairey Rotodyne compound gyroplane design. They
continued to develop the latter, terminating their own Westland Westminster
large transport design.

The company continued to produce other aircraft under licence from Sikorsky
(Sea King) and Bell (Sioux). They also produced their own designs: the
Westland Scout and its naval variant the Westland Wasp from the P.531, which
found favour with the Army Air Corps and Fleet Air Arm respectively.
Privately owned ex-military Westland
In the late 1960s, the company began a collaboration with Aérospatiale to design Scout AH.1 (XV134)
three new helicopters, the Aérospatiale Puma, Aérospatiale Gazelle and
Westland Lynx, with the last being a Westland design.

1970s
Through Saunders-Roe, Westland became first a part owner then, from 1970, the sole owner of the British Hovercraft
Corporation, subsequently trading as Westland Aerospace. Most designs were Saunders-Roe or Saunders-Roe derivatives.

For many years Westland owned the main London heliport at Battersea.

1980s
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. Eventually, the link with Sikorsky was accepted.[2]

In 1984, Westland proposed the WG 44 light attack helicopter based on the Lynx dynamics, incorporating low observable
technologies derived from its SUPERVISOR and PHOENIX UAS projects experience in 1977-1983. In 1987, in parallel with the
Agusta A129 supported by Westland, Fokker, MBB and CASA, its WG 47 development was completed as a confidential private
venture with a faceted fuselage, internal weapons and twin canted tail rotors. A side-exiting infrared suppressor integrated the
exhausts and its tandem cockpit with the pilot in front had transparencies angled outward to eliminate optical glint. This presaged
the US Army Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, rolled out in 1995 and cancelled in 2004, while the fuselage shaping was
retained for the NH90.[3]

1990s
In the 1990s, the company returned to profitability and grew as a result of several major contracts from the UK Ministry of
Defence for EH101 Merlin helicopters and for 67 licence-built Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, designated the WAH-64
and entering full operational service in 2005.
GKN bought into Westland in 1988, 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 2000. The newly merged
company AgustaWestland still maintains the plant at Yeovil. In 2004,
Finmeccanica S.p.A. acquired GKN's share in the joint venture.

The former Westland site at the now unused airfield in Weston-super-Mare

houses The Helicopter Museum featuring a number of examples of Westland UK Army Air Corps Westland Apache
WAH-64D Longbow displays at a UK
aircraft.
airshow

Products

Helicopters
WS-51 - Westland Dragonfly
WS-55 - Westland Whirlwind
Westland Widgeon
WG-58 - Westland Wessex
Westland Westminster (1958) – prototype stage only
Westland Scout
Westland Wasp Privately owned ex-military Westland
Wasp HAS.1.
Westland Sioux
WS-61 - Westland Sea King
Westland Puma
Westland Gazelle
WG.13 - Westland Lynx
WG.30 - Westland 30
EHI EH101
Westland WAH-64 Apache
Bristol Belvedere
Fairey Rotodyne

Westland Lynx helicopters of the

Hovercraft Royal Navy Black Cats display team

GKN Westland AP1-88

Rockets and missiles

Black Arrow

Precision gears
Airship Industries Skyship 500 - transmission system RAF Westland Sea King

See also
Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
References
1. "GKN confirms Westland sale talks" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3733361.stm). BBC
News. 20 May 2004.
2. "AGUSTAWESTLAND - Westland History -" (http://history.whl.co.uk/page4.html). history.whl.co.uk.
3. Jeremy Graham (16 January 2018). "1980s UK secret stealth attack helicopter project revealed" (https://www.aer
osociety.com/news/exclusive-1980s-uk-secret-stealth-attack-helicopter-project-revealed/). Royal Aeronautical
Society.

James, Derek N. Westland: A History. Gloucestershire UK: Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2002. ISBN 0-7524-2772-5.
Mondey, David. Westland (Planemakers 2). London: Jane's Publishing Company, 1982. ISBN 0-7106-0134-4.
James, Derek N. 'Westland Aircraft since 1915'. London: Putnam, 1991. ISBN 0-85177-847-X

External links
(Leonardo web site) (http://www.uk.leonardocompany.com/)
The hovercraft of the Westlands Aircraft Group (including Saunders-Roe and British Hovercraft Corporation) (htt
p://www.bartiesworld.co.uk/hovercraft/saunders.htm)
Westland at Helis.com : timeline (http://www.helis.com/timeline/westland.php) and database section (http://www.h
elis.com/database/go/westland.php)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Westland_Helicopters&oldid=866310201"

This page was last edited on 29 October 2018, at 16:00 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.