WG.11 was proposed in a 60 seat layout format but only for civil application. In the military lift it was restricted to 34 combat troops seated along the side walls.
The drawing in Derek James's book only refers to the folded dimensions suiting the OR358 requirement. Looking at the original drawing it is annotated "pre SRT sketch" which places it alongside other post Rotodyne convertiplane layouts developed mostly by Fairey but then also at Yeovil. As far as I am aware this layout was never submitted as a proposal to satisfy OR358 and I very much doubt that it would have been attractive in the ASW role at that time which likely would have barred it from being included in the options submitted. Its apparent similarity to late 50s Bristol projects suggests to me that this aircraft was inspired by Hafner and its date suggests after he moved to Yeovil as Technical Director (Research).
How true! This is exactly the kind of book I would like to see to shed more light on the diverse activities of an aircraft manufacturer, to see which designs took which path - regardless of whether they went into series production or not. I take my hat off to the effort that the two authors have gone to in order to offer us this wonderful book.
This is actually the only flaw from my point of view.
Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully, Jezzmundo will see this and reply in relation to the convertiplane image. Great to see another WG.21 photo.
We are aware of projects sized to offer an alternative to Viscount and Vanguard via a convertiplane layout. Both of these studies were undertaken at Hayes and post date the cancellation of Rotodyne. Because they are not Yeovil project studies we have very limited information about them. Our book mentions such work but only in passing. In truth it was only of real value in respect of the analysis techniques so developed and which would later inform the pre-SRT studies dated around '63 to '65.
The image of the larger aircraft describes an early configuration, well before WG.22 was even thought of. I cannot quickly date it with certainty but I would suggest an artistic interpretation of SK11 which is shown in the book. Most likely it pre-dates even that and is much more reminiscent of the final work undertaken at Hayes post Rotodyne cancellation. There are a range of artistic impressions from the period of pre-SRT and early SRT studies. WE have pictures of this artwork and so I should be able to track down a date (but only the date when the picture was taken).
Wessex 6 is a project that is missing from the book but which does have an interesting background. The Project Office originally took the view that a substantially modified type would make most sense. Once it was clear that any such development could only be a gap filler pending an all new design being available then far less adventurous proposals were tabled (at least internally - I will need to see if Kew has any indication that these were shared with the MoD). The aircraft with Sea King like undercarriage was not a definitive proposal but more one showing the potential benefit of desirable modifications. Seems like the Wessex 6 should be a feature of any future version of the book. In the mean while I will see if it can be added to the presentation that I and Dr Ron have assembled. Our focus on formal WG.X project designations over the period relevant to the Wessex 6 work means that we did not include it because it never achieved that status (even though the analysis was undertaken by the Project Office). Every time I turn around in the archive I find some new snippet that helps to tell the history of project activities at Yeovil!
Me too.I already have my copy, Congratulations for the excellent work but just missing bigger drawings.
Glad you are finding it of interest. We had no control over the image size but we were able to be successful at placing them in the correct locations. Had the images been much larger then the page count would have gone through the roof. Dr Ron and I are looking to see how larger images might be made available in due course.
Thanks for that.
Source:RAES - Yeovil branch said:
