Westland Aircraft
| Westland Aircraft
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | unknown |
| founding | 1935 |
| resolution | 2000 |
| Reason for dissolution | Merging in " AgustaWestland " |
| Seat |
Yeovil , Somerset , England / United Kingdom 
|
| Branch | Aviation , armaments |
Westland Aircraft (also briefly Westland named 2000-2016 AgustaWestland ) was a British aircraft manufacturer in Yeovil in Somerset , England . From the First World War to 1955, the company produced aircraft . After 1945 Westland began producing and developing helicopters .
Company history
During the First World War 1915–1918
Westland Aircraft was founded as an independent company in 1935. Until then it was part of Petters Ltd. The family company founded by Ernest and Percy Petter produced engines for agriculture and industry until the First World War . With the beginning of the First World War, the British government asked the industry to convert its production to war-essential goods (especially weapons and ammunition ). Petter Ltd. reacted, and in a meeting with the Admiralty it was agreed to build aircraft. After the successful construction of the Short Type 184 and Type 166 seaplanes , the company received the order to build Sopwith 1½ Strutter . In 1916 Airco received an order for the construction of DH4 and DH9 , as a result of which Westland became the main contractor for the construction of the DH9A . By the end of World War I, Westland had manufactured 1,100 aircraft and established itself as a major British aviation company.
Between the wars of 1918–1939
After the end of World War I, Westland began developing passenger aircraft such as the sedan , the three-engine Wessex and the unconventionally designed dreadnought . In addition, production of the DH9A continued until 1927. From her emerged the Westland Wapiti , which formed the backbone of the Royal Air Force in the Middle East and India . 563 units of her were built. With a modified Wapiti, the Westland Wallace and a Westland PV-3 , the first overflight over Mount Everest succeeded in 1933 . Two years later, Westland Aircraft Ltd. founded. In the period between the wars Westland experimented with unusual aircraft like the Pterodactyl, a single-seat flying wing ( first flight 1928) and gyroplanes CL.20 (first flight 1935) and C.29 . However, the latter was not airworthy due to severe ground resonance problems. In 1936 a prototype of the Westland Lysander developed by William Petter flew for the first time. This aircraft had amazing short take-off and landing ( STOL ) characteristics that made it a legend during World War II as part of the SAS ' secret missions . A total of 1,652 units (225 of them in Canada ) were built. With the approach of World War II, the demand for a long-range fighter arose. Westland then developed the twin-engine Whirlwind , which was equipped with four 20 mm cannons in the nose of the fuselage. A total of 116 pieces were made of it.
During the Second World War 1939–1945
With the onset of World War II and the fall of France , the aerial warfare shifted to England , and the Battle of Britain began . This eliminated the need for long-range fighters, and Westland built the Supermarine Spitfire after the Supermarine plant in Southampton was destroyed by bombs . Westland developed the carrier-supported Seafire from the Spitfire . More than 2000 Spitfire and Seafire had been built by the end of the war. One of the most significant new developments during the war was the twin-engine Westland Welkin , which flew for the first time in 1942. The Welkin was the answer to high-flying German reconnaissance aircraft and had a pressurized cabin . The development of pressurized cabins led to the establishment of the subsidiary Normalair .
After the Second World War 1945–1986
The end of the Second World War also meant the beginning of a new era for Westland. The company started producing and developing helicopters. In 1946, Westland reached an agreement with Sikorsky to build helicopters under license . At the same time, the maiden flight of the last aircraft type, the Westland Wyvern , took place. It was a long-range carrier-based fighter with counter-rotating coaxial propellers . The first helicopter built by Westland was a license build of the Sikorsky S-51 , the Dragonfly . Her first flight was in 1948, and delivery to the Royal Navy began in 1953. Other, in some cases significantly modified and further developed, licensed constructions such as the Whirlwind , Wessex and Sea King followed. In 1955 the era of aircraft construction at Westland ended. By that time, more than 6000 aircraft had left the hangars. The focus was now exclusively on helicopters.
Between 1958 and 1961 the British aviation industry changed fundamentally. In the 1950s there were more than 20 companies in Great Britain that were in competition with one another. Under pressure from the British government, the aircraft manufacturers merged to form the British Aircraft Corporation and Hawker Siddeley Group . Westland took over the helicopter divisions of Bristol , Fairey and Saunders Roe and formed Westland Helicopters Limited in 1961. At this point, Westland had already developed two of its own helicopters, the Westland Scout and the Westland Wasp .
Westland began a close cooperation with the French manufacturer Aérospatiale in the late 1960s . This cooperation was the result of a demand by the British Army for new types of helicopters. Aérospatiale was responsible for the development of the Gazelle and Puma and Westland types for the Lynx . The Lynx was a huge success in the development of small ship-based helicopters and led to the development of the larger W30 for the civilian market.
In the 1980s, Westland plunged into a crisis. Despite government support, the company became less profitable. This led to the search for new investors . Westland wanted closer ties with Sikorsky, but the then British Defense Minister favored a European solution. As a result, Sikorsky threatened to leave in 1985 and the subsequent government crisis came to be known as the Westland Affair . Defense Minister Michael Heseltine then resigned in January 1986, and the conflict was settled in Sikorsky's favor. In the same year, the pilots Eggington and Clews set the world record for helicopters with a Westland Lynx of 400.87 km / h.
1986 to 2000
During this time Westland had entered into an agreement with the Italian manufacturer Agusta in search of support for the development of a successor to the Sea King . The two companies founded the joint venture EH Industries and developed the EH-101 Merlin, a multi-purpose helicopter for the navy , army and civil aviation . The first flight took place on October 9, 1987, and in 1991 the Royal Navy ordered 44 Merlin HM Mk.1 anti -submarine helicopters.
Since 1987 the British company GKN (formerly Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds) had become a major shareholder of Westland through share purchases . The other major shareholder was United Technologies , the parent company of Sikorsky. GKN acquired a majority stake in UTC in 1994, and Westland was renamed GKN Westland Helicopters in 1995. As a result, Westland was awarded the Royal Air Force contract to supply the Merlin HC Mk.3 support helicopter and the WAH-64 Apache for the Army Air Corps .
With the founding of the joint venture AgustaWestland between the parent companies GKN and Leonardo-Finmeccanica in 2000, AgustaWestland became the second largest helicopter manufacturer in the world.
See also
Web links
literature
- Derek James: Westland Aircraft since 1915 , Putnam Aeronautical Books, o. O., March 2003, ISBN 0-85177-847-X
- John WR Taylor (Ed.): Jane's All the World's Aircraft , Jane's pub.co., London December 1987, ISBN 0-7106-0850-0
- Malcolm Pearce, Geoffrey Stewart: British Political History, 1867-2001 , Democracy and Decline, Routledge, n.d. , January 2002, ISBN 0-415-26870-2