Westland Widgeon (helicopter)

Widgeon
Westland WS-51A Widgeon on display at the Helicopter Museum (Weston)
Role	Helicopter
Manufacturer	Westland Aircraft
First flight	23 August 1955
Number built	12 new built plus 3 conversions
Developed from	Westland WS-51 Dragonfly

The Westland Widgeon helicopter was a private venture by Westland Aircraft as an improvement on the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly.

Westland Aircraft decided to make a private venture improvement on the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly, which was a licensed Sikorsky design, helicopter by increasing the cabin capacity and replacing the Dragonfly's rotor head, blades and gearbox with the units used in the Westland Whirlwind. Three Dragonfly Series 1As were converted to WS-51 Series 2 Widgeons, and the first one flew on 23 August 1955.

There was a plan to take up to 24 existing Fleet Air Arm Dragonflies to Dragonfly HC.7 standard (as the Naval Widgeon was to become) but this was abandoned and it contributed to the decision to stop progress.

Data from Westland Aircraft since 1915

General characteristics

Performance

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