Westland Whirlwind
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
- This article describes the post-World War II helicopter. For WWII fighter aircraft of the same name, see Westland Whirlwind (fixed wing).
The Westland Whirlwind helicopter was a British-built version of the U.S. Sikorsky S-55/H-19 Chickasaw. It primarily served with the Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm) in anti-submarine and search-and rescue roles.
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History
The first prototype British Whirlwind HAR.1 flew in August 1953, with the 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-40 Wasp, and it 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 Cyclone R-1300-3 engine. It was not until 1955 that the HAR.5 flew for the first time with a British power plant, the Alvis Leonides Major.
The HAS.7 become the first British helicopter designed for anti-submarine work in the front-line when it enetered service in 1956. It was equipped with radar and dipping ASDIC for submarine detection and designed to be equipped with a torpedo, but could not carry both simultaneously. In this version the engine was a 750 hp (560 kW) Alvis Leonides Major 755/1. This helicopter had a hovering ceiling at 9,400 ft and a range of 334 miles at 86 mph.
Later in their lives, some HAR.9s were converted to use the Rolls-Royce Gnome turbine engine.
From its start with the Navy, the Whirlwind came to be used by the British Army and RAF. More than 400 Whirlwinds were built, of which nearly 100 were exported to the following countries: Austria, Bahamas, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Cuba, France, Ghana, Jordan, Iran, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Yugoslavia.
Variants
(With production numbers)
- WS-55 Series 1: 44
- American engines (Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340-40), transport helicopters for military and civilian use
- WS-55 Series 2: 19
- Alvis engines (Alvis Leonides Major 755), civilian use
- WS-55 Series 3: 5
- Gnome turboshaft (Bristol Siddeley Gnome 101), civilian use
- HAR.1 :10
- Search and rescue
- RN service
- HAR.2 : 33
- RAF service from 1955
- HAR.3 : 25
- Wright Cyclone engine
- RN service
- HAR.4 : 24
- Improved HAR.2 for hot and high conditions
- MAR.5 : 3
- Alvis engines
- RN service
- HAS.7 : 129
- RN anti-submarine duties - 1 torpedo
- 12 used for Royal Marine transport use
- HCC.8 : 2
- Royal Flight transport, VVIP
- HAR.9 :
- RN service
- HC.10
- RAF service
- HAR.10: 68
- RAF, transport and air-sea rescue
- HCC.12: 2
- Royal Flight,
The model numbers for the US-built evaluation models were
- HAR.21 10 rescue
- HAS.22 12 anti-submarine
External links
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on April 11, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen Here."
