WESTLAND WHIRLWIND ENGINES PROPELLERS AND MUCH MORE UNCOVERED

Westland Whirlwind Don't Blame the Engines. Issued by the Air Ministry in 1935 Specification F.37/35 called for a single-seater fighter with armament of four cannons. Westland's design team, led by William Petter, worked on the company's submission, the Whirlwind, with an order for two prototypes placed in February 1937. The twin-engine, single-seat Westland Whirlwind produced by a small company based in Yeovil South West England, looked like a formidably potent weapon. The four 20mm cannon packed close together in the nose could take out a tank when nothing else flying could. The Westland Whirlwind Mk I which would be the first twin-engined fighter of the Royal Air Force, was powered by a pair of 885-hp Rolls-Royce Peregrine I engines giving the aircraft a top speed of 387 mph, range of 800 miles and a service ceiling of 30,300 ft. Armament was four 20mm cannons and 1,000lb bombs. No. 263 Squadron based at RAF Grangemouth received their first production version on the 6th July 1940. As they began the task of eliminating bugs in both the airframe and Rolls-Royce Peregrine engine. The key difference between the tested prototype and the Whirlwinds in service was considered too minor to be worth commenting on officially at the time. It was the propeller. The prototype sent by Westland to the RAF had a one-off Rotol propeller design, not the de Havilland - Hamilton propellers that the production Whirlwinds received. There is little doubt that the thick De Havilland blades with the wrong airfoil section held the Whirlwind back. The bombs carried by the Whirlwind were usually two 250 lb one under each wing. The Whirlwind was also capable of carrying larger 500 lb bombs instead. The heavier bombs were rarely used because at the low levels the Whirlwinds delivered their attacks, there were fears that the blast from the larger bombs would damage the attacking aircraft. During its career as a fighter bomber from September 1942 until November 1943 Whirlwinds flew 1,427 combat sorties, 698 of those were against shipping targets. The final Whirlwind combat missions were flown on the 29th of November 1943. Please check out the excellent articles written by Nialls Corduroy and Matt Bearman links below. If you would like to support my channel buymeacoffee.com/gullperch Nialls Corduroy https://dingeraviation.net/westland/w... Matt Bearman https://www.historynet.com/it-wasnt-t...    / @gullperchhistoricalarchives