I have been in touch with Westlands at Yeovil and can categorically say that there is no Whirlwind at their site. It is true that their company hack was buried there having served as a fire rescue training aid (and was burnt considerably). During the 1970’s the airframe was exhumed from the north side of the airfield and removed by persons unknown for disposal. It was in danger of contaminating a nearby stream, and was removed along with a substantial quantity of soil. The records for the removal either do not exist, or are not in circulation, and Westlands have no idea of the company used for its disposal. The engines were scrapped as has been discussed elsewhere on this thread

Hmmm… I found it’s far better to never ask Managerial Staff about things of importance from years ago – or anything else for that matter, unless it’s about a pay rise… :rolleyes:
Your best bet is to put a letter in the weekly local Yeovil News asking for any site Engineering staff at the time for their help. They always know more about what went on in and around any factory site then official company spokes persons… 😉

I am beginning to collect all there is to know about Westland’s rather promising fighter. I am looking for technical data, parts / sections (tempory loan or atleast access) handling notes, good photographs, stories, etc. All I am going to say for now, is this is a long term research project. For now, copies of documents and locations of any bits will suffice. I sincerely hope some of you may be able to help… (and yes, I WILL be contacting Westland).

Are there any un-excavated Whirlwind crash sites in the UK?

Ha!

Sorry LL, you want to go here then…

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/23110283/m/9561084534?r=9561084534#9561084534

When you contact Westlands you will need to speak to a Mr Fred Ballam, he is and or was their Archive Consultant and will be able to steer you in the right direction as to what they have in regards to the available Whirly data…

I have some data… :rolleyes: That may be of use…

Best of luck;)

🙁

If a Westland Whirlwind (Fighter, NOT helecopter) was to be built from scratch, would it be possible in theory to fit merlins (with a modified cooling arrangement) instead of the rather rare Perigrines…

Fraid not, being that the Whirly was built around the Peregrines it would have to have had a major refit to cope with a couple of Merlins… It was, if I remember correctly, said by Westlands that they could refit the Whirly with Merlins, but there has never been any data to say how they were to do it… American engines, although again, type not specified, were also put up to save the beast and the Napier Dagger was also a contender…

So, you would either have to, pinch the one that R-R Derby has in their museum and then fabricate another or find something around the size and power of the Peregrine and use that… I personally would not mind if someone would build a replica using modern day composits and anything thing else that could get something very much like a Whirlwind back up in the air… 😉

Crikey, have you put on weight…

Hi Jerry…

Brass Whirlwind eh…;)

Might have a go at that, even if it is a bit of an agricultural rendering of Mr Petters P9…:)

Crikey! 😮 On looking at the Beaufighter and the Hampden, its the pride of the bunch…

I have toyed with the idea of having a scale one made in wood… But as yet not been brave enough to ask for a quote…

Sorry can’t help mate, but I was looking for something similar from the pilots notes for the Westland Whirlwind… 😉 Namely where are the original photos that were taken for the cockpit gone…:mad:

Not really.

The odds are only 365.33 TO 1

Moggy

:p 😉

Well, I think its spooky that one of the only quotes I can remember was sent on this very day in 1587…

Hmmm… Can someone tell us exactly, what it would cost to get XH558 to appear at one airshow a year…? Including all the costs of upkeep, servicing, fuel, insurance, certification costs, etc, etc…

Please… 😉

301st Bombardment Group Heavy
Flying Fortresses of World War II

44-6351 B-17G-45-DL MACR: 12903

Here’s a link for you to maybe try…

http://www.301bg.com/Contact_us.cfm

The 301st BG flew its first missions as part of the 8th AF, Bomber Command, in England. They were transferred to the newly created 12th AF and sent to North Africa in November of 1942. In October of 1943 the 12th AF was merged into the new 15th AF. The 301st BG completed the war in Europe attached to the 15th Air Force.

History…

http://www.376hbgva.com/history/15thairforce.html