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6 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Westland Wapiti IIA: Royal Air Force· Public domain
- 2. Westland Wapiti Delhi Air Museum: Aryan Gupta· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. IWM Q 70129 Westland Wapiti: Mrs Chorley (?)· Public domain
- 4. Wapiti (MK II A): Abhinav619· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 5. Westland Wapiti IIA No. 30 Squadron RAF Diana Iraq: Gerard Combe· Public domain
- 6. Westland Wapiti: San Diego Air & Space Museum· Public domain
what is it?
The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service. First flying in 1927, the Wapiti entered service with the RAF in 1928, and remained in production until 1932, a total of 565 being built.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 14.2 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 99 years ago, in 1927.
- Top speed is 1.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 14.2 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1927-03-07
- introduced
- 1928
- number built
- 558
- role
- general purpose
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- makers
- Westland Aircraft
- engines
- 1× Bristol Jupiter VI / Bristol Jupiter
- crew
- 2
- length
- 9.7 m
- wingspan
- 14.2 m
- height
- 4 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,454 kg
- top speed
- 208 km/h
- cruise speed
- 177 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 5,730 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q587279, Wikipedia: Westland Wapiti (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.