This article describes the World War II fighter aircraft. For the post-war helicopter of the same name, see here. The Westland Whirlwind helicopter was a British-built version of the U.S. Sikorsky S-55/H-19 Chickasaw. ...

The Whirlwind was a small twin-engine heavy fighter from the Westland Aircraft company. It was one of the fastest aircraft in the air when it flew in the late 1930s, and much more heavily armed than anything flying. Protracted development problems with the Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines it relied on delayed the entire project, and only a relatively small number were built. A heavy fighter is a fighter aircraft designed to be used in the long-range role, or while carrying heavier weapons loads. ... Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil in Somerset, formed just before the start of World War II. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but their Lysander would serve as an important liaison aircraft with the RAF. After the war the... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1930s were described as an an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ... The Peregrine was a 885hp liquid-cooled V-12 aircraft engine designed by Rolls Royce in the early 1930s. ...

Westland Whirlwind

Westland Whirlwind File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Westland Whirlwind File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Development

A serious problem for air planners of the 1930s was that one could build a nimble plane only if it was small. Such a plane had the problem of not having enough range to fight in anything other than defensive operations, and could not take the fight to the enemy. The only way that a plane could lift enough fuel to do so would be to mount two engines, but it seemed that any plane large enough would be too unwieldy to fight its single engine counterparts.

The Germans and US pressed ahead with such programs anyway, resulting in the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and the Lockheed P-38. Soon the Luftwaffe was boasting that the 110 could beat any single engine fighter, and do so while operating at long ranges escorting their bombers. This piqued the interest of the Air Ministry who finally decided to try their hand at such a plane, and sent out a contract for designs. Gloster, Hawker and Westland all responded, with the Gloster F.9/37 and Westland F.37/35 designs given the go-ahead (Hawker was busy with the Hurricane). Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ... The Messerschmitt Bf 110 (later Me 110) was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Later in the war it was changed to fighter-bomber and night fighter operations, and it became the major night fighter type of the Luftwaffe. ... The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was one of the most important American fighters of the Second World War. ... The Luftwaffe ( ♫) (German: air force, IPA: [luftvafə]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... The Air Ministry was formerly a department of the United Kingdom Government, established in 1918 with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the (then newly formed) Royal Air Force. ... The Gloster Aircraft Company was formed at Brockworth ( Gloucester ) in 1915 as the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company. ... Hawker-Siddeley was a British aircraft manufacturing company. ... The Hawker Hurricane is a fighter design from the 1930s which was used extensively by the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. ...

Westland's design team, under the new leadership of Teddy Petter (who later designed the English Electric Canberra and Lightning), returned a plane that employed state-of-the-art technology. The fuselage was a small tube with a T-tail at the end, built completely of stressed-skin monocoque duraluminum. The pilot sat high under one of the world's first full bubble canopies, and the low and forward location of the wing made for superb visibility (except directly over the nose). In the nose were four 20 mm cannons, making it the most heavily armed plane of its era, and their clustering meant there were no aiming problems as there are with wing-mounted guns. W. E. W. Petter was an English aircraft designer. ... Jump to: navigation, search English Electric Canberra B.2. ... The English Electric Lightning (later the BAC Lightning) was a supersonic British fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, particularly remembered for its great speed, and its natural metal exterior that was used throughout much of its service life with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Saudi Air Force. ... Duralumin (or duraluminum) is an alloy of aluminium (about 95%), copper (about 4%), and small amounts of magnesium (0. ...

The plane was quite small, only slightly larger than the Hurricane in overall size, but smaller in terms of frontal area. All of the wheels fully retracted and the entire plane was very 'clean' with few openings or bumps. Careful attention to streamlining and two 885 hp Peregrine engines drove it to over 360 mph, the same speed as the latest single-engine fighters mounting much larger engines. The speed quickly garnered it the nick-name Crikey, meaning "my god!" or more accurately "Christ's keys".

The prototype flew on October 11 1938 and production started early the next year. It had excellent handling and it was considered to be very easy to fly at all speeds. The only exception was landing, which was all too fast. Fowler flaps were added to correct for this problem, which also required the horizontal stabilizer to be moved up, out of the way of the disturbed air flow when the flaps were down. Hopes were so high for the design that it remained 'top secret' for much of its life, although it had already been mentioned in the French press. October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in Leap years). ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938: Events Imperial Airways inaugurates scheduled service from London to Montreal. ... Flaps are hinged surfaces on the trailing edge of an airplane wing which, when deployed, increase the lift (and drag) of a wing. ...

But there were problems as well. The plane actually had quite short range, under 300 miles combat radius, which made it less than useful as an escort. More troublesome was the continued failure of the Peregrine engines. Originally intended to be one of Rolls' main designs, the Merlin had since become much more important to the war effort and the Peregrine was ignored. Soon the engine was cancelled outright, and since much of the performance of the plane depended on the careful streamlining around that specific engine, there was little choice but to cancel the plane as well. The Merlin was a 12 cylinder, 60° V, 27 litre, liquid cooled piston aircraft engine built during World War II by Rolls-Royce. ...

Westland argued for the creation of the Mk. II model using two Merlin engines, but by this time the role was becoming less important. As Bomber Command turned to night bomber missions the need for an escort fighter became less important. Meanwhile by this time the Supermarine Spitfire was mounting 20 mm cannons, so the 'cannon armed' specification was also being met. The main qualities the RAF were looking for in a twin was range and ordnance load (to allow for the carriage of radar), which the Bristol Beaufighter could do just as well as the Whirlwind. Bomber Command is an organizational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in World War II. The Spitfires elliptical wings gave it a very distinctive look; their thin cross-section gave it speed; the brilliant design of Chief Designer R.J... The Beaufighter was a long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Companys earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design. ...

In the end only 116 Whirlwinds were produced in total, arming two squadrons (No. 263 Squadron RAF in July 1940 and No. 137 Squadron RAF in November 1941). Due to their good low-altitudes performance, they were used primarily as strike fighters and referred to as Whirlybombers. However even this role was soon marginalized with the introduction of the Hawker Typhoon, and the Whirlwind was removed from service in late 1943. Today none exist. Jump to: navigation, search 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... A strike fighter is a fighter aircraft used to attack surface targets of high value, including ships. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter aircraft, produced by Hawker Aviation starting in 1941. ...

In 1941 the Luftwaffe started a number of extremely high-altitude bombing missions using specially modified Junkers Ju 86 bombers and Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters carrying bombs. These were met by modified Spitfires, but the pilots were extremely exhausted as a result of the forced-air breathing system. The Air Ministry then ordered a new purpose-built high-altitude fighter with a pressurized cockpit, and Westland responded with a modified Whirlwind known as the Welkin However the Germans called off the attacks, unaware of the British problems, and the Welkin was produced in an even more limited number, only 77. Junkers Ju 86 Junkers Ju 86 The Junkers Ju 86 was a German monoplane bomber and civilian plane. ... Jump to: navigation, search (Bf 109 was the official Reichsluftfahrtministerium designation, since the design was sent in by the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke company. ... The Welkin was a twin-engine heavy fighter from the Westland Aircraft company, designed to fight at extremely high altitudes in the stratosphere. ...

Specifications (Whirlwind)

General Characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
• Wingspan: 45 ft 0 in (13.72 m)
• Height: 11 ft 7 in (3.53 m)
• Wing area: 250 ft² (23 m²)
• Weight
  • Empty: 8,310 lb (3,768 kg)
  • Loaded: 10,356 lb (4,697 kg)
  • Maximum takeoff: 11,410 lb (5,175 kg)
  • Powerplant: 2 x Rolls-Royce Peregrine I, 885 hp (660 kW) each

The Peregrine was a 885hp liquid-cooled V-12 aircraft engine designed by Rolls Royce in the early 1930s. ...

Performance

• Maximum speed: 360 mph (560 km/h)
• Range: 808 miles (1,300 km)
• Service ceiling: 30,315 ft (9,240 m)
• Rate of climb: ft/min ( m/min)
• Wing loading: 41 lb/ft² (204 kg/m²)
• Power/Weight: 0.17 hp/lb (0.28 kW/kg)

Armament

• 4x Hispano 20 mm cannon in nose
• 2x 250 lb (115 kg) or 500 lb (230 kg) bombs

The Hispano Suiza 20 mm cannon was one of the most widely used aircraft weapons of the 20th century, used by British, American, French, and many other military services. ...

External links

• Westland WHIRLWIND

See also

Related development: Westland Welkin The Welkin was a twin-engine heavy fighter from the Westland Aircraft company, designed to fight at extremely high altitudes in the stratosphere. ...

Comparable aircraft:

Designation sequence:

• List of aircraft of the RAF

Many aircraft types have served in the Royal Air Force since it was formed in 1918 by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. ...