[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Westlands are an amalgamation of Fairey Aviation and Westland [makers of WW2 aircraft] and had for some years the old Fairey factory at Hayes, Middlesex, near where my father worked for EMI. Fairey had premises on the old Heston Aerodrome as well, a short distance away by crow from Hayes. There was then UI think a removal to Weston-super-Mare where the helicopter museum is now and where they have helicopter fly-ins. There was also and still is a Westland factory that was formerly a hovercraft factory at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight that makes components. This was formerly Saunders-Roe and was of course a seaplane then flying boat factory and Fairey and S-R merged, and then they merged with Westlands.


Although components for the Sea Kings may have been sourced from hayes etc. assembly I believe was at Westland's Yeovil, Somerset factory. Westalnds had a history of acquiring a Sikorsky licence to build since the S51 as the "Dragonfly" that served with the Royal Navy, then the Widgeon with the S51 rotor assembly on a new design fuselage, the S55 [Whirlwind, with Alvis Leonides piston and then Bristol-Siddeley Gnome?? [later Rolls-Royce] turbine, then the S58 [Wessex] turbine 'copter, then the S61 civilian helicopter and Sea King military version, and so on. The only other licence that comes to mind in historical terms was the Bell one to produce Westland-Bell 47G piston 'copters as the "Sioux" for the Army and RAF. That said I am not that certain whether they were based on the Agusta-Bell 47G and therefore the licence was a sub-licence!

Westlands did indeed sell Sea Kings built in Yeovil around the world. My father worked during the Falkands War for EMI when they designed the Searchwater radar to the Sea King fuselage to create the AEW version. Searchwater was also used in the Nimrod.

On another note our thoughts go out to the families of the pilot and Navigator of the Tornado from Marham, Norfolk, shot down by a Patriot apparently under US control. So far we have lost British personnel in the crash of a Sea Knight, two Sea Kings and now a Tornado, and none by enemy action...one by friendly action. The 28-year old Royal Marine was in barracks in Poole, 35 miles away, and had a wife and children. RIP.