A Westland Wapiti Replica At Swiftair,Leicester ?

Presumably that should be a Finmecchanica Wapiti now…….

And now a Leonardo Wapiti!

Just to bring this thread up to date re Jagan’s inquiry about the length of the Wapiti V. I’ve been carrying out further research and I can say that the standard Wapiti V in RAF and IAF service did not have the lengthened fuselage of the Wallace and they were 32′ 6″ long the same as the IIa’s. The Wallace was 34′ 2″ long

I have had the opportunity to measure up the Wallace in the RAF Museum collection and I am currently doing a comparison of the Wallace and Wapiti structures.

John

Presumably that should be a Finmecchanica Wapiti now…….

David- yes I can see the reason they used a Leonides and I should have made more clear that I was referring more to the aesthetics rather than for the film convenience.

Jagan – yes that photo does raise a very big question mark as to the Mk V mods in service. I’ve addressed a couple of your queries in the sister Wapiti thread.

John

There’s a reason why the Wapiti fin and rudder are so large. Has anyone else read the reason why, which would be difficult to make up?

Attachign an excerpt from Profile Publications No.32 “Westland Wapiti” by CF Andrews.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]242881[/ATTACH]

Again i think that claim of Longer “Wapiti V” needs to be substantiated beyond J9728

There’s a reason why the Wapiti fin and rudder are so large. Has anyone else read the reason why, which would be difficult to make up?

It would indeed be nice to see this project finished. However the Wallace fuselage is longer than most Wapiti’s except the Mk V and VIII. The V was used by five RAF squadrons in India and may well have been passed on to the Indian Squadrons later. The choice of the Leonides engine is odd as it is physically much smaller than a Jupiter (Wapiti) or Pegasus (Wallace) though a two row Leonides Major might double up for an AW Panther (Chinese Wapiti VIII) quite well. I’d love to get up close to it as I have a Wallace drawing project on at the moment for model purposes.

John

John,

Many Mk V variants served with the IAF Unit but during the research for my book, “The Westland Wapiti in the Indian Air Force (1933-1943)” i have had issues establishing that the Mk V fuselage was longer than the Mk IIA. for eg.. this photo https://flic.kr/p/bvxAcn . the top two aircraft J9755 and J9751 are MkVs that are supposed to be longer than the bottom aircraft J9633.. but it doesnt appear to be the case.. especially because most literature claims that the Mk V is longer than the Mk IIA by 1 feet and 10 inches..

But there is a MkV that was longer and it is very obvious that it was a one off – and thats J9728

Westland Wapiti J9728 by Dan Sharp, on Flickr

The choice of a Leonides was a simple one. The aircraft was commissioned for a film project -therefore a degree of artistic licence would be ok. Couple this with the cost of a good Leonides in the 1980’s being in the £500 region for something recently out of service and its a easy choice.

Going the Jupiter / Pegasus route would be great for historical authenticity -however I guess the last time a Jupiter was seriously looked at would have been the Shuttleworth Bulldog in the 1960’s. The cost of overhauling a Jupiter would have been easily 40K then if you could find a suitable engine . Add the price of a prop and for a speculative project it becomes far too expensive!

It would indeed be nice to see this project finished. However the Wallace fuselage is longer than most Wapiti’s except the Mk V and VIII. The V was used by five RAF squadrons in India and may well have been passed on to the Indian Squadrons later. The choice of the Leonides engine is odd as it is physically much smaller than a Jupiter (Wapiti) or Pegasus (Wallace) though a two row Leonides Major might double up for an AW Panther (Chinese Wapiti VIII) quite well. I’d love to get up close to it as I have a Wallace drawing project on at the moment for model purposes.

John

Thanks for the replies.. got all excited for a little while there!

Thank you for correcting us on that point David.

‘Wasn’t that one found to be made to a non air worthy standard?’

No that is incorrect . It was built for a speculative film project on behalf of an owner. It was intended to be powered by an Alvis Leonides -it was built to an airworthy standard.

According to the latest Wrecks & Relics it arrived at Leicester in January 2013, ex Old Warden & Hatch.

Yes, I half remember hearing something to that affect.

I wonder, is this the fuselage that used to be stored in one of the hangars at Old Warden? It looks like it.

Wasn’t that one found to be made to a non air worthy standard?

It was covered in an earlier thread. It must be this one.

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?36647-Westland-Wallace-replica-may-fly-over-Everest

The Wallace replica as in Mount Everest flight?
Cees

I wonder, is this the fuselage that used to be stored in one of the hangars at Old Warden? It looks like it.