Westland Widgeon (helicopter)

For the 1924 aeroplane, see Westland Widgeon (fixed wing)
Widgeon
Westland WS-51A Widgeon on display at the Helicopter Museum (Weston)
Role Helicopter
Manufacturer Westland Aircraft
First flight 23 August 1955
Number built 12 new built plus 3 conversions[1]
Developed from Westland WS-51 Dragonfly

The Westland Widgeon helicopter was a private venture by Westland Aircraft as an improvement on the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly.

Design and development

Westland Aircraft decided to make a private venture improvement on the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly, which was a licensed Sikorsky design, helicopter by increasing the cabin capacity and replacing the Dragonfly's rotor head, blades and gearbox with the units used in the Westland Whirlwind. Three Dragonfly Series 1As were converted to WS-51 Series 2 Widgeons, and the first one flew on 23 August 1955.

There was a plan to take up to 24 existing Fleet Air Arm Dragonflies to Dragonfly HC.7 standard (as the Naval Widgeon was to become) but this was abandoned and it contributed to the decision to stop progress.

Operators

 Brazil
Sri Lanka Ceylon
 Hong Kong
 Jordan
 United Kingdom

Specifications (Widgeon)

Data from Westland Aircraft since 1915[1]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 James 1991, p. 320.
  2. Flight International 13 July 1967, p. 58.
  3. Flight International 13 July 1967, p. 60.
  4. Iliffe-Moon, Peter (17 May 1973). "The unarmed air force". Flight International. Vol. 103 no. 3349. p. 759.
  5. Flight International 13 July 1967, p. 62.
  6. Flight International 11 July 1968, p. 55.
  7. Apostolo 1984, p. 103.

Bibliography

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