Westland Welkin

what is it?

The Westland Welkin was a British twin-engine heavy fighter from the Westland Aircraft Company, designed to fight at extremely high altitudes in the stratosphere; the word welkin meaning "the vault of heaven" or the upper atmosphere. First conceived in 1940, the plane was built in response to the arrival of modified Junkers Ju 86P bombers flying reconnaissance missions, which suggested the Luftwaffe might attempt to re-open the bombing of Britain from high altitude. Construction was from 1942 to 1943.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 21.3 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 619 km/htop speed
• size 4,697 kgmax take-off weight
• built 77made in total

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 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 21.3 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.5× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942-11-01

introduced

1944

retired

1944

status

retired

number built

77

role

high altitude fighter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Westland Aircraft

engines

2× Rolls-Royce Merlin 76

crew

1

length

12.7 m

wingspan

21.3 m

height

4.8 m

max take-off weight

4,697 kg

top speed

619 km/h

range

—

ceiling

13,411 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.