24-793: The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service. First flying in 1927, the Wapiti entered service with the RAF in 1928, and remained in production until 1932, a total of 565 being built. It equipped twenty squadrons of the RAF, both overseas (particularly in India and Iraq ) and at home, remaining in RAF service until 1940, also being used by
48-715: A Westland PV-3 the two aircraft became the first to fly over Mount Everest on 3 April 1933. The PV-6 was later designated the Wallace Mk I , bearing serial K3488 which introduced a number of improvements. A total of 68 Wapitis were converted to Wallace Mk I standard. The Wapiti was used by the Indian Air Force into the early days of the Second World War. For example, during the Imperial Japanese Navy attack on Ceylon (now Sri Lanka),
72-438: A fixed main undercarriage plus a tailskid. The forward fuselage was of metal tube structure with aluminium-and-fabric covering, while the rear fuselage was of fabric-covered wooden construction. The wings and tail were standard wooden DH.9A components, although later models replaced the wooden parts with an all-metal structure. The Wapiti was powered by a single Bristol Jupiter radial engine , and its crew of two were armed with
96-459: A forward-firing Vickers machine gun and a Lewis gun for the observer, while it could carry up to 580 lb (264 kg) of bombs under the wings and fuselage. It was also fitted with radio and photographic cameras, and like the DH.9A before it, could carry a spare wheel for operations in adverse terrain. The prototype first flew on 7 March 1927. Initial tests showed poor control, and the prototype
120-802: A new aircraft division at English Electric that would go on to be very successful. Production started with the Sikorsky S-51 flying for the first time in 1948 and as the Westland-Sikorksy Dragonfly entering service with the Royal Navy and RAF from 1950. 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
144-505: A replacement of the elderly Airco DH.9A , designed during the First World War which still equipped the Royal Air Force 's General Purpose squadrons. To save time and money, the specification called for the use of a high proportion of DH.9A components, (as the RAF still held large stores of DH.9A spares), while it encouraged the use of an all-metal structure. A large number of types were tendered to meet this requirement from most of
168-690: The Indian Air Force Museum, Palam , Delhi. It is the last surviving aircraft of the type. The fuselage and lower wing of one other (Serial Number K-811) were reported as surviving at the museum's storage facility, but in June 2012 it was determined that only K-811's lower wing survives, albeit in a ruinous condition. Data from The British Bomber since 1914 General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Westland Aircraft Westland Aircraft
192-604: The Sopwith 1½ Strutter , the de Havilland designed Airco DH.4 , Airco DH.9 and Airco DH.9A and the Vickers Vimy . The name "Westland" was chosen by Mrs Petter as new land purchased as part of an expansion in 1913 at West Hendford which had been earmarked for a new foundry, but ended up becoming the centre for aircraft production. As a result of the experience gained in manufacturing aircraft under licence, Westland began to design and build its own aircraft, starting with
216-710: The Welkin 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 never appeared production was limited. 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
240-759: The Westland N.1B in 1917, which was followed in 1918 by the Wagtail and the Weasel . Following the end of war, Westland produced the Limousine and Woodpigeon light aircraft for the civilian market, but most successful was the Wapiti close support aircraft. In 1935 Petters split its aircraft manufacturing from its aircraft engine concerns to form Westland Aircraft Limited , based in Yeovil , Somerset. The Whirlwind
264-615: The Whirlwind , and a re-engined Sikorsky S-58 in both turboshaft and turbine engine powered designs as the Wessex . In 1952 Westland decided on four helicopter designs for possible development: None of these Westland helicopters advanced further than the paper study. Westland did progress as a private venture, a large space-frame cargo helicopter design using a Sikorksy rotor head - the Westland Westminster - but this
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#1732786609440288-668: The Air Forces of Australia, Canada, South Africa and India. It also formed the basis for the Westland Wallace which partly replaced the Wapiti in RAF use. The Wapiti is named for the wapiti , also known as elk , one of the largest species of the deer family and one of the largest land mammals in North America and eastern Asia. In 1927, the British Air Ministry issued Specification 26/27 for
312-684: The Indian Air Force sent 2 Wapitis to patrol off the east coast of India, looking for the Japanese fleet. The southern patrolling Wapiti found nothing. But the northern patrolling Wapiti actually found a Japanese task force including the aircraft carrier Ryujo , and then amazingly survived to land undamaged. (in India) (in Iraq) (in the United Kingdom) All built by Westland at Yeovil A Westland Wapiti (Serial Number K-813) survives at
336-514: The helicopter divisions of Bristol , Fairey and Saunders-Roe (with their hovercraft ) were merged with Westland to form Westland Helicopters in 1961. Normalair was created to continue the development and marketing of the pressure relief valves used in the Welkin project. Armstrong Siddeley Panther The Armstrong Siddeley Panther was a 27-litre 14-cylinder twin-row air-cooled radial aero engine developed by Armstrong Siddeley . It
360-402: The major British aircraft manufacturers, including Westland, who submitted the design that later became known as the Wapiti. Westland had an advantage in that it had carried out the detailed design work for the DH.9A, and was already a major contractor for the DH.9A. The Wapiti was a conventional single-engined equal-span two-bay biplane with a slight wing stagger. It had tandem open cockpits and
384-611: The major designers of the Supermarine Seafire , a navalised conversion of the Spitfire. The Westland 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 with Sikorsky . This upset W.E.W. Petter , the chief designer, who left to form
408-758: The start of the Second World War . The prototype Wapiti V , registered G-AAWA , was used for demonstration flights in Argentina and Uruguay on floats, powered by a 550 hp Armstrong Siddeley Panther IIA engine. It was later modified as the Bristol Pegasus -powered Westland PV-6 or Wapiti VII , re-registered G-ACBR (also known as the Houston-Wallace after the patron Lucy, Lady Houston ), for an attempt to fly over Mount Everest . Flown by Flt Lt David F. McIntyre and accompanied by
432-516: The war the company focused on helicopters , and was merged with several other British firms to create Westland Helicopters in 1961. 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 Admiralty Type 166 . Orders for other aircraft followed during First World War , including
456-582: The wooden fuselage, tail and wings were replaced by metal structures in the Wapiti II and IIA, and the original long fuselage was eventually reinstated in the Wapiti V and later versions. In 1930, Westland produced an updated version of the Wapiti, the Wapiti VII, which differed so much that it was renamed the Westland Wallace . The type entered service with No. 84 Squadron RAF in Iraq in June 1928 . It
480-415: Was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil , Somerset . Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War , Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but their Lysander would serve as an important liaison aircraft with the Royal Air Force . After
504-621: Was dropped later in favour of the government funded Fairey 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 the British Aircraft Corporation and the Hawker Siddeley Group ,
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#1732786609440528-725: Was heavily used in Iraq and India in the Army Cooperation role, acting also sometimes as a bomber or reconnaissance aircraft. Wapitis of No. 20 squadron escorted Victoria troop carriers in the evacuation of Kabul in December 1928. It was still in service in India until 1942. In Britain , Wapitis served with the Auxiliary Air Force from 1929 to 1937. It was also flown by Australia and Canada, where it saw service at
552-551: Was modified with a much larger tail and horn-balanced ailerons , solving these problems. (It was later discovered that a 2-foot (0.61 m) fuselage section had been omitted from the prototype – as handling was now acceptable, it was not reinstated.) The Wapiti performed well during RAF trials, while using significant amounts of DH.9A components, and was declared the winner of the competition, an initial contract for 25 aircraft being placed in October 1927. After initial production,
576-455: 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. The Lysander 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
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