The Westland Widgeon was a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

developed by

Westland Aircraft Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. Du ...

as a private venture 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 helicopter, which was a licensed

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by the Russian-American aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923, and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian ...

design, 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 Widgeon specifications and the first one flew on 23 August 1955. One of these conversions, registration G-ANLW, was the first helicopter to land at the London Heliport on 8 April 1959, and later appeared in the 1971 film, '' When Eight Bells Toll''. In 1957, there was a plan to take up to 24 existing

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

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.

Variants

;WS-51 Series 2 Widgeon :12 new aircraft and three conversions from Series 1A Dragonflies. ;Dragonfly HC.7 :Proposed conversion of

Dragonflies to Widgeon standard. 24 conversions planned but never carried out. ;UH-1 :

Brazilian Navy The Brazilian Navy () is the navy, naval service branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces, responsible for conducting naval warfare, naval operations. The navy was involved in War of Independence of Brazil#Naval action, Brazil's war of independence ...

designation for the Widgeon. Originally designated HUW.

Operators

; *

;

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

* Royal Ceylon Air Force ; *

Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force The Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force (RHKAAF) was a Hong Kong Government department based in Hong Kong. It was formed as an air force in 1949 as part of the Hong Kong Defence Force. In preparation for the transfer of sovereignty from the Uni ...

; *

Royal Jordanian Air Force The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF; Arabic: سلاح الجو الملكي الأردني, ''Silāḥ al-Jaww al-Malakī al-ʾUrdunī'') is the aerial warfare branch of the Jordanian Armed Forces. Founded in 1955, the RJAF serves as the primary ...

; *Biafran Air Force - operated a single ex-Bristow Widgeon during the

Biafran War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from N ...

. ; *

Bristow Helicopters Bristow Helicopters Limited is a British civil helicopter operator originally based at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland, which is currently a part of the U.S.-based Bristow Group () which in turn has its corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas, U.S ...

Surviving aircraft

Brazil

* N-7001 - WS-51/2 ''c/n'' WA/H/142 on static display i
Museu da Aviação Naval
at São Pedro da Aldeia,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

United Kingdom

* G-ANLW - WS51A Series 2 ''c/n'' WA/H/133 under restoration a
Historic Helicopters

Chard Chard (; '' Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'', Cicla Group and Flavescens Group) is a green leafy vegetable. In the cultivars of the Flavescens Group, or Swiss chard, the leaf stalks are large and often prepared separately from the leaf b ...

* G-AOZE/5N-ABW - WS51A Series 2 ''c/n'' WA/H/141 on static display a
The Helicopter Museum

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

* G-APTW - WS51A Series 2 ''c/n'' WA/H/150 on static display a
North East Land Sea & Air Museum

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Specifications (Widgeon)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Apostolo, Giorgio. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1984. . * * James, Derek N. ''Westland Aircraft since 1915''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1991. .
"Widgeon and Whirlwind —with power by Alvis: A Report on two current Westland developments."
''Flight,'' 1955.

''Flight International'', 13 July 1967. pp. 57–71.

''Flight International'', 11 July 1968. pp. 48–60.

External links

* Westlan
Widgeon
pages at helis.com database {{DEFAULTSORT:Westland Widgeon (Helicopter) 1950s British helicopters Widgeon (helicopter) Single-engined piston helicopters Single-rotor helicopters Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Aircraft first flown in 1955