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
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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

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'Westland aircraft & rotorcraft' arrived from distributors this morning :)
A truly excellent volume, i have been waiting decades for a book like this it does give the impression of a 'labour of love' by the authors.
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 sketches are also very nice, id love to see a ga. of it and its accompanying liggtweight 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 :)
 
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.
 
We might have to go back and retitle and recaption a few of the threads here on SP. based upon material in the new Westland volume :)

I have done same over on the Project Cancelled modellers page albums over on FB.
An example being collating Bristol 173 / WG.1 / WG.8 / WG.11 development under one umbrella ... https://www.facebook.com/share/p/86yPYxB7wXJdpym5/

Quite a few have gone misidentified for years especially the later project material. The work by Jeremy Graham and Dr. Ron Smith addressing a number of gaps in our collective knowledge base and corrects a number of mistakes made in previous reference sources over the past decades
 
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TsrJoe said:
I have done same over on the Project Cancelled modellers page albums over on FB.
An example being collating Bristol 173 / WG.1 / WG.8 / WG.11 development under one umbrella ... https://www.facebook.com/share/p/86yPYxB7wXJdpym5/
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Sister Joe,

I think something went wrong here,WG.1 was a four Gnome,ASW troop/cargo helicopter,also
WG.11 was a four turboshaft 60-troop compound helicopter.

For OR.358,I know only unnamed twin tilt-rotor aircraft ?,WG.2 ?,rather than the WG.7 was a twin
turboshaft ASW medium lift helicopter.
 
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hesham said:
Sister Joe,

I think something went wrong here,WG.1 was a four Gnome,ASW troop/cargo helicopter,also
WG.11 was a four turboshaft 60-troop compound helicopter.

For OR.358,I know only unnamed twin tilt-rotor aircraft ?,WG.2 ?,rather than the WG.7 was a twin
turboshaft ASW medium lift helicopter.
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From Putnam's book.
 

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Got my copy yesterday and it’s distracting me from finishing what I’m currently reading!

Looks very good, the Lynx Loadmaster is a new favourite “what if…” design :)
 
Got my copy yesterday too.
For a helicopter fan like me its like manna from heaven and it's very good that Jeremy and Dr Ron have tackled this subject and got it published. Hopefully the sales refute the oft-quoted "nobody buys books on helicopters" which I've heard several times over the years.
My only nit pick so far on a flick-through is that the images and photos are reproduced very small, which is a shame for some of the GAs and technical drawings.
 
Hood said:
Got my copy yesterday too.
For a helicopter fan like me its like manna from heaven and it's very good that Jeremy and Dr Ron have tackled this subject and got it published. Hopefully the sales refute the oft-quoted "nobody buys books on helicopters" which I've heard several times over the years.
My only nit pick so far on a flick-through is that the images and photos are reproduced very small, which is a shame for some of the GAs and technical drawings.
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Likewise mine arrived yesterday and gave only had a chance of a quick flick through.
Looks excellent, but I do agree with you about images sizes.
Got mine from ‘Amacon’ and saved over £10 with their pre-order promise. And, didn’t have to pay postage!
 
hesham said:
From Putnam's book.
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Sorry about a delay responding to the interesting observations re. Derek James and the Putnam volume. I have been away on holiday for the past week or so.
In the meantime, here are some explanatory remarks from Jeremy (who has regular access to the archive at Yeovil):

"My response to the attached re differences with Derek James’s book.
In summary the material in the new book is correct but, where there is a difference, I am confident that he was wrongly advised; to be more helpful here goes:

WG1 is described in both books as a four-engine tandem ASW/tactical lift solution but only the latest book refers to OR (strictly NGAST) 358. The layout was developed to satisfy 358. Yeovil project office records do not show a tilt rotor. There is some work originated at Hayes around the same time which may relate to 358 but it was not a Yeovil based project, hence is excluded from the latest book other than for context.

WG3 did not start off as a Gnome powered design but it did end up there. The latest book describes the evolution of the aircraft and its choice of power plant.

WG4 is referenced in the Project Office summary but is not included in the detailed description of project office work in this period. The reason is a combination of our decision to focus on those projects that served to materially influence the MoD/Users and to exclude those that are supported by little available data.

WG.5 (turbine powered Skeeter) likewise.

WG 7 is covered in detail by the new book as the Project Office configuration to satisfy NGAST 365.

WG11 was the final attempt to develop a solution to meet NGAST 358. It is correctly described as a four-engine helicopter by both books. The compound configuration with wings was studied for the military application as a role fit for the ferry mission. In the military configuration it was laid out to seat 34 troops. A civil variant was proposed with permanently fitted wings and its cabin was laid out to accommodate 60 passengers (not troops).

Quick summary: NGAST 358 resulted in studies identified as WG1, WG2, WG11. NGAST 365 was WG7. WG9 was an attempt to create a cost effective solution as a common aircraft to approach the requirements of both 358 and 365.

In Yeovil, no tilt rotor configuration studies were conducted until the Short Range Transport work began in the mid-60s. These aircraft had both civil and military application, but none were specifically measured against 358. The development of tilt-rotor and tilt-wing configurations were continued until the industry wide (Westland and Hawker) SRT programme was terminated by Government: not all studies were completed by the Project Office as is described in the latest book."
 
Dr Ron said:
In Yeovil, no tilt rotor configuration studies were conducted until the Short Range Transport work began in the mid-60s. These aircraft had both civil and military application, but none were specifically measured against 358. The development of tilt-rotor and tilt-wing configurations were continued until the industry wide (Westland and Hawker) SRT programme was terminated by Government: not all studies were completed by the Project Office as is described in the latest book."
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Thank you Dr Ron,

but that's so weird,because in Putnam's book,they mentioned there was a tilt-rotor concept of 1962 for
OR.358,and they displayed a drawing to it ?!.
 

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hesham said:
Thank you Dr Ron,

but that's so weird,because in Putnam's book,they mentioned there was a tilt-rotor concept of 1962 for
OR.358,and they displayed a drawing to it ?!.
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Jeremy is aware of this drawing, and is looking into it further. His preliminary view is:
"Ron, I realise that in James’s book he has a 3 view of a tilt rotor which is labled as meeting 358 and also a Westland drawing. It’s a study of the value of variable diameter rotors and I have seen it only recently in the archive BUT I don’t believe it was a true project office study. I think it was a Hafner thought experiment which may have been illustrated by a project office draughtsman but its not a recognised project study as such. It also resembles an earlier Bristol drawn layout. I will look it out if I can to get the story straight."
Given this, there may be more to come. I will update, if anything more specific emerges.
 

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