Westland Whirlwind (helicopter)

Whirlwind
A Royal Air Force Whirlwind HAR.10
Role	Helicopter
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Westland Aircraft
First flight	August 1953
Introduction	1954
Primary users	Royal Navy Royal Air Force
Produced	1953-1966
Number built	360+
Developed from	Sikorsky H-19

The Westland Whirlwind helicopter was a British licence-built version of the U.S. Sikorsky S-55/H-19 Chickasaw. It primarily served with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm in anti-submarine and search and rescue roles.

Design and development

In 1950, Westland Aircraft, already building the American Sikorsky S-51 under license as the Westland Dragonfly, purchased the rights to manufacture and sell Sikorsky's larger Sikorsky S-55 helicopter. While a Sikorsky-built pattern aircraft was flown by Westland in June 1951, converting the design to meet British standards (including the provision of a revised main-rotor gearbox), was time consuming,^[1] and the first prototype British aircraft, registered G-AMJT, powered by the 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-40 Wasp did not fly until August 1953.^[2] This was followed by ten Whirlwind HAR.1s, which entered service shortly afterwards. They served in non-combat roles, including search and rescue and communications functions. The HAR.3 had a larger 700 hp Wright R-1300-3 Cyclone 7 engine.

The performance of early versions was limited by the power of the American Wasp or Cyclone engines, and in 1955, the HAR.5, powered by an uprated engine, the Alvis Leonides Major, flew for the first time.^[3] This was followed by the similarly powered HAS.7, which became the first British helicopter designed for anti-submarine warfare in the front-line when it entered service in 1957. It could either be equipped with a dipping Sonar for submarine detection or carry a torpedo, but could not carry both simultaneously, so sonar equipped "Hunters" were used to direct torpedo armed "Killers".^[4] The HAS.7 was powered by a 750 hp (560 kW) Alvis Leonides Major 755/1 radial engine. It had a hovering ceiling at 9,400 ft (2,900 m) and a range of 334 miles at 86 mph.

Later in their service lives, some HAS.7s were converted to use the Rolls-Royce Gnome turboshaft engine, as the HAR.9.

After entering service with the Royal Navy, the Whirlwind came to be used by the British Army and Royal Air Force. More than 400 Whirlwinds were built, of which nearly 100 were exported to foreign customers. The French Navy received 37 Whirlwind HAR.2 between 1954 and 1957.^[5]

Operational service

848 Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm was the first squadron to HAR.1's which replaced the Sikorsky built HAR.21's for utility and Search and Rescue from July 1954.

Variants

Whirlwind Series 1 demonstrator fitted with P&W R-1340 in 1955

Whirlwind of the Royal Navy

Whirlwind HAS.7 of the Empire Test Pilots' School

Whirlwind HCC.12 of the Royal Flight

WS-55 Series 1 

44 built; American engines (Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340-40), transport helicopters for military and civilian use

WS-55 Series 2 

19 built; Alvis engines (Alvis Leonides Major 755), civilian use

WS-55 Series 3 

5 built; Gnome turboshaft (Bristol Siddeley Gnome 101), civilian use

HAR.1 

10 built; RN service; Search and rescue

HAR.2 

33 built; RAF service from 1955

HC.2 

RAF service

HAR.3 

25 built; RN service; Wright Cyclone engine

HAR.4 

24 built; Improved HAR.2 for hot and high conditions, RAF service

HAR.5 

3 built; Alvis Leonides Major engine and a 3 degree droop of the tail boom for increased main rotor clearance; RN service

HAR.7 

40 built; RN duties - 6 converted to HAR.9's

HAS.7 

89 built; RN anti-submarine duties - 1 torpedo; 12 used as Royal Marine transports, 6 converted to HAR.9's

HCC.8 

2 built; Royal Flight transport, VVIP later converted to HAR.10's

HAR.9 

12 conversions of HAS.7 with a Bristol Siddeley Gnome gas turbine replacing the Leonides Major engine, RN service

HC.10 

RAF service

HAR.10 

68 built; powered by a Bristol Siddeley Gnome gas turbine, RAF service, transport and air-sea rescue

HCC.12 

2 built; Royal Flight,

The model numbers for the US-built evaluation models were

HAR.21 

10 built; rescue. Equivalent to US Marine HRS-2.^[6]

HAS.22 

15 built; anti-submarine. Equivalent to HO4S-3.^[6]

Operators

Military operators

 Austria

• Austrian Air Force^[7][8]

 Brazil

• Brazilian Air Force^[9]
• Brazilian Navy ^[10][11]

 Brunei

• Brunei Air Force^[9]

 France

• French Navy^[5]

 Ghana

• Ghana Air Force^[12]

 Iran

• Imperial Iranian Air Force^[12]

 Italy

• Italian Air Force^[12]

 Kuwait

• Kuwait Air Force^[13]

 Nigeria

• Nigerian Air Force^[14]

 Qatar

• Qatar Air Force - Received two Whirlwind Series 3 on its foundation in 1968.^[15]

 United Kingdom

XJ726 - HAR 10 used by the Royal Air Force

• Royal Air Force^[16]

• • No. 22 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 28 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 32 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 84 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 103 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 110 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 137 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 202 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 225 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 228 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 230 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 263 Squadron RAF^[17]
  • No. 275 Squadron RAF^[17]

XK936 - HAS 7 used by the Royal Navy

• Royal Navy ^[18]

• • 700 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 700H Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 701 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 705 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 706 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 719 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 728 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 737 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 771 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 781 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 814 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 815 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 819 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 820 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 824 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 825 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 829 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 845 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 846 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 847 Naval Air Squadron^[19]
  • 848 Naval Air Squadron^[19]

 Yugoslavia

• SFR Yugoslav Air Force^[20][21]

Civil Operators

 United Kingdom

• Bristow Helicopters^[22][23]
• British European Airways^[24]

Survivors

Over 69^[25] aircraft remain in private ownership, dumped or in museums including the RAF Museum and the Fleet Air Arm Museum as well as being the current gate guardian at RAF Odiham.

• Whirlwind HAR.10 XJ729/G-BVGE.
• Whirlwind Series 3 G-APWN, Midland Air Museum, Coventry, England. Sometimes open for viewing.
• Whirlwind HAR.9 XL875 at Scone Airfield, Perth, Scotland. Air Service Training (Engineering and Pilot Training)^[26]
• Whirlwind HAR.9 XN258 At the North East Aircraft Museum.
• Whirlwind HAR.10 XD163 at The Helicopter Museum, Weston-super-Mare, England.
• Whirlwind HAR.10 XP345 At Aeroventure, South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, Doncaster England. Owned by the Yorkshire Helicopter Preservation Group.
• Whirlwind HAR.10 XP355 At the City of Norwich Aviation Museum, Norwich Airport, England.
• Whirlwind XG576 / CU-590 (cn WA71) Named "Princess Olivia". Ex Bristow Helicopters G-AYNP. Originally delivered to the Royal Navy as XG576 in 1955. At Alten (Buseck), Germany.
• Whirlwind Srs3 XG588 / VR-BEP on static display at East Midlands Aeropark

Specifications (Whirlwind HAS.7)

Data from Westland Aircraft since 1915 ^[27]

General characteristics

• Crew: Two pilots
• Length: 41 ft 8½ in (12.72 m)
• Rotor diameter: 53 ft 0 in (16.15 m)
• Height: 15 ft 7½ in (4.76 m)
• Disc area: 2,205 ft² (205 m²)
• Empty weight: 5,993 lb (2,724 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 7,800 lb (3,538 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Alvis Leonides Major 755 14-cylinder two-row radial, 750 hp (559 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 109 mph (95 knots, 175 km/h)
• Range: 334 miles ^[28] (290 NM, 534 km)
• Service ceiling: 13,000 ft (3,960 m)
• Rate of climb: 910 ft/min (4.6 m/s)
• Disc loading: 3.5 lb/ft² (17.3 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.10 hp/lb (0.16 kW/kg)

Armament

• 1x Mark 30 or Mark 44 torpedo or Depth charges (carried in place of dipping sonar)

See also

Related development

• Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw
• Sikorsky H-34
  • Westland Wessex

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Mil Mi-4

References

Citations

1. James 1991, pp.320—321.
2. James 1991, p.322.
3. James 1991, p.329.
4. James 1991, p.330.
5. James 1991, p. 336.
6. Thetford 1978, p.423.
7. "FlightGlobal World Helicopter Market - 1968". flightglobal.com. July 1968. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
8. "Westland-WS-55-Whirlwind". Demand media. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
9. "FlightGlobal World Helicopter Market - Page 49". flightglobal.com. July 1968. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
10. "Flight Global - 1966". flightglobal.com. July 1966. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
11. "Westland Whirlwind HAR3, N-7010, Brazilian Navy". abpic.co.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
12. "World Helicopter Market". Flight International. Vol. 94 no. 3096. 11 July 1968. p. 52.
13. "FlightGlobal World Helicopter Market - 1968". flightglobal.com. July 1968. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
14. "World Helicopter Market". Flight International. Vol. 94 no. 3096. 11 July 1968. p. 54.
15. Air International September 1988, p.136.
16. "Westland Whirlwind HAR10 Helicoptor". MooreAircraft.com. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
17. Jefford 1988, p. 140.
18. "A Royal Navy Westland Whirlwind helicopter flies alongside the south coast of England.". BBC. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
19. Sturtivant, Ballance 1994, p. 363.
20. "World Helicopter Market". Flight International. Vol. 94 no. 3096. 11 July 1968. p. 60.
21. "Yugoslavian Westland-WS-55-Whirlwind". Demand media. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
22. James 1991, p. 327.
23. "Bristow Helicopters Westland-WS-55". Demand media. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
24. "Westland WS-55 Series 3, G-AODA/EP-HAC/9Y-TDA, at The Helicopter Museum". helicoptermuseum.co.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
25. Demobbed Aircraft - Westland Whirlwind
26. http://www.airservicetraining.co.uk
27. James 1991, pp.336—338.
28. Thetford 1978, p.352.

Bibliography

• James, Derek M. Westland Aircraft since 1915. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1991. ISBN 0-85177-847-X.
• Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
• Thetford, Owen. British Naval Aircraft since 1912. London:Putnam, 1978. ISBN 0-370-30021-1.
• "Wings Over the Gulf: The Qatari Emiri Air Force". Air International, September 1988, Vol. 35, No. 3. pp. 135–144.

External links

• Navy News
• Helicopter museum
• British Aircraft Directory
• Westland Whirlwind page at helis.com database