Westland Aircraft & Rotorcraft : Secret Projects & Cutting Edge technology

Westland Aircraft & Rotorcraft : Secret Projects & Cutting Edge Technology.

Coming soon from Tempest Books.

Synopsis:
While the general history of Somerset’s major aerospace manufacturer is well documented, many of Westland’s lesser-known and often more adventurous products, projects and technologies most certainly are not. This new volume from authors Jeremy Graham, a former member of the company’s Future Projects team and head of avionics and systems technology, and Dr Ron Smith, former head of Westland Future Projects and light attack helicopter chief design engineer, presents a highly detailed and fully illustrated exploration of the company’s many innovative programmes and projects using documents, photos and illustrations from the official Westland – now Leonardo – archive.

Fixed wing types, from the blended-wing Westland Dreadnought to Lysander, Whirlwind, Welkin and Wyvern-based projects and on to a variety of 1950s jet fighter designs, receive extensive coverage but Westland’s greatest achievements have been in the field of rotary wing aircraft – and it is here that the book provides unparalleled insight. From adapted licence-built types such as the Wessex and Sea King to home-grown types such as Lynx and on to multinational collaborative efforts such as Merlin, Wildcat and the AW609 tiltrotor, the authors explore the technology developed and employed, the political and financial backdrop and the specific developments themselves. Along the way numerous unbuilt projects, such as attack and stealth helicopters as well as early military drones, not to mention a host of remarkable technological innovations are described in detail. Crammed with previously unseen imagery and written with unmatched authority, Westland – A History: Secret Projects and Cutting-Edge Technology is a must-read for any aviation enthusiast.
 

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Let's see if we can finally order it from April the 29th
 
Antonio said:
Let's see if we can finally order it from April the 29th
Click to expand...
Obviously outside our control, I am just as anxious to see a copy of it.
The information above is what I have from the publisher: it has been printed and should be in the UK and available for sale from the 29th. I have seen enough to know that it must be imminent. Should I hear anything by way of of a further update, I will post it here.
 
Mortons / Tempest website now showing May 3rd publication. Amazon website appears to be accepting orders and has delivery date consistent with this timescale.
 
Advance copy from the printers. The full print run is due to arrive at Mortons' warehouse tomorrow, whereupon copies will immediately start being sent out to customers who've ordered direct. For those who've ordered through Amazon or elsewhere, quantities of copies will also be forwarded on to distributors (Amazon won't deal with publishers direct - you have to deal with their distributor, Booksource), then forwarded on to those outlets, who will then send them to their customers.

The fastest way to get it is to order direct:
www.mortonsbooks.co.uk

WESTLAND AIRCRAFT & ROTORCRAFT: SECRET PROJECTS & CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY | Mortons Books

Westland Aircraft & Rotorcraft: Secret Projects & Cutting-Edge Technology
www.mortonsbooks.co.uk www.mortonsbooks.co.uk

1000024263.jpg
 
'Westland aircraft & rotorcraft' arrived from Mortons this morning :)
A truly excellent volume, iv been waiting decades for a book like this.
We are finally able to fill in the 'missing' WG. designs such as the WG.2, WG.7 and 9, and sorting out the myriad combat and more recent light civil helicopter proposals with drawings of all the major studies.
I know a few fellow modellers have also purchased the volume, so much potential modelling reference for future builds (the Helicarrier is also very nice, id love to see a ga. of it and its accompanying helicopter)

My appreciation to the authors Jeremy Graham and Dr. Ron Smith, brilliant work sir's

Cheers, Joe
 
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Hi,

it looks great book,and also I hope to contain the early W series,and we know the P series
definitely had some helicopters,we have P.277,there was a sequence called Model 600, it
was gained some helicopters.
 
The main points of the book were in a magazine article a few years ago. i'll see if I can find it out and link to it.
 
I received the book yesterday and I had the free time to start reading it today, I am absolutely loving it. There are so many projects that are new to me and more background information to the projects I did know about.
You can tell that the book is a labour of love and that the authors are highly knowledgeable. It is a great reference book in its own right but also complements the three "and the helicoper" books by Blue Envoy.
The only downside to the book is that it leaves you with a sadness caused by thinking if only a fraction of these projects had come to fruition, how much stronger our helicopter industry would be.
 
Thanks for the kind comments. If you work in preliminary design or future projects, the reality is that only a small amount of what you do comes to fruition.
Personally, I regard the work I did at Westland as a high point in my career; particularly the influence we had on the NH90 (where I was on the Configuration Team and Jeremy was on Avionics & Mission Systems).
We also generated a Design Synthesis methodology building on our own skills and knowledge and those of the two project engineers whom I had recruited from BAe Warton.
Even the patent applications (twin tail rotors as a transmission brake, and internal weapons stowage in a shaped fuselage) that I was named in were never actually converted to full patents.
 
piginapoke said:
The main points of the book were in a magazine article a few years ago. i'll see if I can find it out and link to it.
Click to expand...
The article you refer was discussed in this forum, you can find it with the search engine

And the book is much more than that, please read the posts already published. Please take a look at the publisher's web:
www.mortonsbooks.co.uk

WESTLAND AIRCRAFT & ROTORCRAFT: SECRET PROJECTS & CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY | Mortons Books

Westland Aircraft & Rotorcraft: Secret Projects & Cutting-Edge Technology
www.mortonsbooks.co.uk www.mortonsbooks.co.uk

Already ordered my copy :)
 
We were able to express ship 10 copies of the book to Montreal for the Vertical Flight Society's 80th Annual Forum and Technology Display this week. They were all snatched up before the event officially started!
 
What was your reaction to seeing it as a complete work? Jeremy and I are very pleased, although it has been a bit of a battle to 'get it over the line'. We are extremely grateful for your support.
 

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