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The only Westland fighter to achieve operational status with the RAF, the Whirlwind was designed in response to Specification F.37/35 for a "cannon fighter" armed with four 20mm guns. As the P.9, the Westland design emerged as a low-wing monoplane with two Rolls-Royce Peregrine I 12-cylinder liquid-cooled Vee engines, each rated at 885hp at 4575m. The four Hispano Mk I guns were grouped in the nose, the pilot enjoyed a good all-round view from a fully-enclosed cockpit in line with the wing trailing edge, and radiators were buried in the wing leading edges inboard of the nacelles. Construction was of metal throughout, with flush-riveted stressed skins, a novelty being the use of magnesium rather than aluminium sheet to cover the monocoque fuselage aft of the cockpit. Two prototypes were ordered by the Air Ministry in February 1937, and the first of these flew on 11 October
1938. Despite delays in development and production of
the Peregrine engine, two contracts were placed in
1939, each for 200 fighters as Whirlwind Is, and the first
series aircraft flew in June 1940. In the event, produc
tion ended with 114 aircraft built, these serving with
only two RAF squadrons (Nos 263 and 137). Armament
problems and changing operational needs curtailed the
usefulness of the Whirlwind, which was enhanced in
late 1942 by the addition of a pair of wing racks to carry
two 113kg or 227kg bombs. Operational use of the Westland fighter came to an end in November 1943.
| MODEL | Whirlwind |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 5165 kg | 11387 lb |
| Empty weight | 3770 kg | 8311 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 13.72 m | 45 ft 0 in |
| Length | 9.83 m | 32 ft 3 in |
| Height | 3.20 m | 10 ft 6 in |
| Wing area | 23.22 m2 | 249.94 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 579 km/h | 360 mph |
| Ceiling | 9150 m | 30000 ft |
| Range | 1287 km | 800 miles |
 | A three-view drawing (650 x 539) |
| john mcclure, j.l.mcclure (@)sympatico.ca, 11.11.2009 Having completed a tour of operations in the Whirlibomber in WW2 with RAF 137 and 263 Sqds I assure that this was a great aircraft to fly. With the 4 20 mm cannons in the nose it was tremendous against shipping,train busting etc
It could have been further developed but Lord Beaverbrooke, the minister of aircraft production made the decision to turn maximum production into the spitfire which was a proven machine with obvious potential for development. So the Westland Co was ordered to build Seafires a naval version of the Spitfire. | | Doc, dbea5071(@)bigpond.net.au, 07.08.2009 It was the only British fighter that could handle the initial Fw190 "Butcher bird", albeit only up to "Angels 15" where the power fell off on the Peregrines.
Lost out due to lack of development re engines. Peregrine was final update of Kestral, but failure of the proposd RR X-engine for the Manchester led to the 4 Merlin Lancaster and full shutdown of engine production for the Whirlwind, as the X-engine was to have been 2 Peregrine crankcases, coupled, and this failure doomed the best fighter britain had as it was too small for Merlins - see Welkin, aka MkII -
and two Merlins was TWO Spitfires or Hurricanes @ a time they needed every one of those that they could build, so the Whirlwind lost out on a whole slew of fronts, doing remarkably well for the (lack) of development they had for a remarkably long service time. You can see the same wing planform in the EE Canberra, also a Petter design, which also was a remarkably efficient and long lasting aircraft. | | leo rudnicki, leo_rudnicki(@)hotmail.com, 22.04.2009 And compare wing thickness with the Gloster F.9/37. Spitfire thin, fast versus Beaufighter thick, slow. | | leo rudnicki, leo_rudnicki(@)hotmail.com, 22.04.2009 One of the greatest "alternative history" airplanes of all time.It could have been a DH Hornet in 1940. Drop a Heinkel in a single burst. Cover Dunkirk and Dieppe without running out of gas,sorry, petrol. Use the Merlins from all the unbuilt Battles and Defiants. Needed bigger magazines, 150/200 rpg. Coulda been a contender. | | d.jay, 14.02.2009 Westland did want to build a MkII with Merlin engines as an escort fighter, but due to bombers going to night ops it was not needed. | | d.jay, 14.02.2009 Westland did want to build a MkII with Merlin engines as an escort fighter, but due to bombers going to night ops it was not needed. | | Wayne, waybrink(@)hotmail.com, 14.02.2009 Just imagine what an interceptor this would make with a pair of Merlin 61's powering this aircraft. How about a Bristol Centaurus powered post D-Day fighter-bomber. A fine airframe in search of an engine. | | Don, dcorea(@)indy.rr.com, 08.11.2007 Did any of the Whirlwinds go down in fresh water, i.e. a lake and thus could be retrieved? How many of the planes were lost in combat verses being scrapped? I think I recall that one had a landing gear collaspe during operations and was sent back to the factory for repairs which were done. The plane was then scrapped just after the war. | | Michael Thorburn, mythor(@)yahoo.co.uk, 27.12.2006 Most of them were scrapped at 5MU - RAF Kemble in the early 1970s. | | Martin Cole, martinhinton(@)gmail.com, 24.12.2006 I would like to know the full combat record of this aircraft,eg how many airframes existed after itīs combat service finished and how they were disposed of. |
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