The first attempt by Westland to develop a monoplane fighter evolved from a private venture prototype designed – by the company’s draughtsmen in their spare time – during 1926 with high speed performance the primary objective. Known simply as the Racer, this unarmed parasol monoplane of mixed construction was powered by a 275hp Rolls Royce Falcon III inline engine and flew in November 1926. Badly damaged in a forced landing in 1927, the Racer was rebuilt in much modified form as the Wizard fighter. In this form, it was primarily of metal construction and had a 490hp unsupercharged Rolls-Royce F.XI 12-cylinder Vee-type water:cooled engine in a more streamlined nose cowling, with a retractable radiator in the underside of the fuselage. The Wizard – which was flying by late 1927 – used a similar parasol wing to that of the Racer, this being mounted close to the fuselage on tandem pylons on the fuselage centreline. Two 7.7mm Vickers guns were mounted semi-externally in the fuselage sides. The Wizard’s performance, and particularly its rate of climb, attracted a modicum of Air Ministry interest and a contract to cover testing at Martlesham Heath. There, the pilot’s forward view was found unsatisfactory, leading Westland to design and fit a new wing with changed planform outboard, new inset ailerons and a thinner centre section, mounted on more conventional cabane strutting. A supercharged 500hp Kestrel II (F.XIS) was fitted, but in this final form, the Wizard II, as it was sometimes known, demonstrated a reduced performance and failed to persuade the Air Ministry to change its policy towards monoplane fighters.

Max take-off weight: 1486 kg / 3276 lb
Empty weight: 1067 kg / 2352 lb
Wingspan: 12.04 m / 40 ft 6 in
Length: 8.18 m / 27 ft 10 in
Height: 2.84 m / 9 ft 4 in
Wing area: 22.11 sq.m / 237.99 sq ft
Max. speed: 303 km/h / 188 mph

The Yeovil day-bomber biplane design was commenced by Westland in 1923. The Yeovil was the first of the Westland post-war military designs, to an Air Ministry Specification, and was built specially to accommodate the biggest engine then available, the newly developed 650hp Rolls Royce Condor engine. Three machines in all were produced, numbered J.7508, J.7509 and J.7510, the first slightly differing from the others in undercarriage arrangement and the fairing of the wing tanks. The prototype was initially test-flown at Andover, in the summer of 1925, by Captain Frank Courtney, the development testing of the subsequent machines being in the hands of Major L. P. Openshaw.
Several other firms built prototypes to the same Specification and, although the Yeovil did not go into production the three examples built were used for research work.

Engine: 1 x 650hp Rolls Royce Condor
Max take-off weight: 3567 kg / 7864 lb
Empty weight: 2113 kg / 4658 lb
Wingspan: 18.13 m / 60 ft 6 in
Length: 11.22 m / 37 ft 10 in
Height: 4.34 m / 14 ft 3 in
Wing area: 74.13 sq.m / 797.93 sq ft
Max. speed: 193 km/h / 120 mph

The Woodpigeon biplane was first conceived as the Westland entry in the Air Ministry’s Light Aeroplane Competition of 1924, but was finally produced with the main object of being tested side-by-side with another Westland competitor, the Widgeon high-wing monoplane, in order to weigh the relative merits of a biplane and a monoplane with almost identical wing areas and power loadings. In the Competition and in later trials at Westland it soon became obvious that the Widgeon monoplane was much superior although, on paper, each machine should have had identical performances. In their endeavour to make a fair assessment the Westland technicians insisted on cutting a runway, with a hand-mower, through the long grass of Yeovil aerodrome, in order to get the Woodpigeon airborne. In fact it was so difficult to keep the little aeroplane in the air that it was decided to decrease the wing loading, so a second Woodpigeon, G-EBJV, was built with a large span, and the wings of the original machine, G-EBIY, were also increased to suit. Further tests in this form, and with the more powerful Anzani engine, were carried out by Major L. P. Openshaw, and in the end the Woodpigeons were flying reasonably enough to attract the interest of two private owners.

original Competition machine
Engine: 1 x 32hp Bristol Cherub
Max take-off weight: 353 kg / 778 lb
Empty weight: 199 kg / 439 lb
Wingspan: 6.93 m / 23 ft 9 in
Length: 5.94 m / 20 ft 6 in
Height: 2.15 m / 7 ft 1 in
Wing area: 14.4 sq.m / 155.00 sq ft
Max. speed: 116 km/h / 72 mph

The years following the conclusion of the First World War were notable for an official lack of attention to the needs of the fighting services. The Westland design staff was asked to produce, in 1920, a carrier-borne fleet reconnaissance biplane for the Royal Navy.
The machine required had to be, basically a D.H.9A, but was to have a 450hp Napier Lion engine in place of the 400hp Liberty motor, and to be equipped with the various items of gear as a naval aircraft.
Westland Aircraft produced thirty-six aircraft of the type demanded. The machine, which was given the name of Walrus, carried a crew of three. The pilot’s cockpit was situated immediately aft of the wing trailing edge, with a Scarff-mounted Lewis gun over the cockpit behind him. The floor of the rear fuselage was fitted with a glazed observation blister, for use in the prone position, while a radio transmitter – operated by the observer – was situated in a third cockpit, aft of the rear gunner’s position.
Features of the machine included rubber flotation bags, which could be inflated from compressed air bottles, a patent jettison valve on the main fuel tank, which allowed the petrol to be discharged in a few seconds and then, if the machine alighted on the sea, would automatically re-seal the tank into an additional flotation chamber. The aircraft had folding wings. Another special feature was the undercarriage, capable of being dropped by the pilot in the event of an emergency and fitted with a set of jaws for gripping the carrier’s deck arresting-wires. These wires ran along the length of the flight-deck and not across the beam of the ship.
The prototype Walrus, and the subsequent production machines, were flight-tested by Captain A. S. Keep, M.C., who reported the aircraft as being somewhat vicious in its behaviour. In Service use the Walrus did not shine and the type was not produced beyond the original contract number – which in those days was regarded as a big order.

Engine: 1 x 450hp Napier Lion
Wingspan: 14.06 m / 46 ft 2 in
Length: 9.14 m / 30 ft 0 in
Height: 3.52 m / 12 ft 7 in
Armament: 1 x Vickers gun, 1 x Lewis gun

To meet the requirements of Specification F.7/30 for a four-gun day and night fighter powered by the Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine using evaporative cooling, Westland schemed a parasol monoplane in continuation of the Wizard concept, but found it impossible to combine the required slow landing speed with the 402km/h maximum. An alternative biplane, the P.4, was successfully tendered, however, one prototype being ordered in 1931. With a 600hp Goshawk VIII buried in the fuselage behind the pilot, driving the propeller via a long extension shaft, this single-bay biplane featured a gulled upper wing with short inboard struts in place of the usual cabane, and a staggered lower wing of slightly shorter span. When first flown on 23 March 1934, the F.7/30 had an open cockpit, but a full canopy was soon added. Armament of four 7.7mm Vickers guns was concentrated in the nose. Construction was of metal throughout, with metal skins for the forward fuselage and engine bay, and fabric elsewhere. Ailerons were fitted to the upper wing only, this also having Handley Page slots.
Although it handled well, the F.7/30 was found deficient in performance when tested at Martlesham Heath, and no further development occurred.

Max take-off weight: 2359 kg / 5201 lb
Empty weight: 1672 kg / 3686 lb
Wingspan: 11.73 m / 39 ft 6 in
Length: 8.99 m / 30 ft 6 in
Height: 3.28 m / 11 ft 9 in
Wing area: 34.37 sq.m / 369.96 sq ft
Max. speed: 298 km/h / 185 mph

In 1931 Air Ministry Specification G.4/31 called for a General Purpose aircraft, capable of level bombing, army co-operation, dive bombing, reconnaissance, casualty evacuation and torpedo bombing. The Vickers Type 253 won against the Fairey G.4/31, Westland PV-7, Handley Page HP.47, Armstrong Whitworth AW.19, Blackburn B-7, Hawker PV-4 and the Parnell G.4/31.

The Westland team produced the two-seat high-wing monoplane design, the P.V.7. This machine was capable of fulfilling all the standard general-purpose requirements and could, alternatively, be used as a torpedo-bomber, carrying an externally slung 450kg torpedo or an equivalent bomb load.

The preliminary test-flights at Yeovil, in the hands of Mr. H. J. Penrose, produced extremely satisfactory results and there were high hopes that the machine would have a long production run. However, while undergoing extended official trials at Martlesham Heath, the P.V.7 was unfortunately wrecked.

Mr. Penrose, who was flying the machine solo at the time, was engaged in making a series of dives under overload conditions and, while travelling at high speed in rough air, the port rear outrigger strut failed under an unexpected down-load. The resulting fracture brought about the collapse of the complete wing structure and, as it broke away from the machine, it severed the empennage. The pilot made what must be one of the first parachute escapes from an enclosed-cockpit military aeroplane, emerging through one of the small side doors of the coupe and eventually landing unhurt some distance from the wreckage.

The inevitable delay caused by the necessary investigation into the cause of the accident rendered the risk of building a further Private Venture too great, and the type, despite its great promise, was dropped.

Engine: 1 x 722hp Bristol Pegasus III M.3 9-cyl air-cooled radial
Max take-off weight: 3395 kg / 7485 lb
Empty weight: 2048 kg / 4515 lb
Wingspan: 18.36 m / 60 ft 3 in
Length: 11.88 m / 39 ft 0 in
Height: 3.65 m / 12 ft 0 in
Wing area: 49.8 sq.m / 536.04 sq ft
Max. speed: 278 km/h / 173 mph
Ceiling: 6900 m / 22650 ft