Westland Wessex

what is it?

The Westland Wessex is an early turbine-powered helicopter produced by the British rotorcraft specialist Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). It was an under licence development of the piston-engined Sikorsky S-58. During the mid-1950s, Westland arranged with the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft to demonstrate one of its S-58s in Britain to garner sales.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 turboshaft engines · 17.1 m main rotor

base stats

• speed 212 km/htop speed
• range 500 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 16passengers
• size 6,124 kgmax take-off weight
• built 356made 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 68 years ago, in 1958.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Rotor of 17.1 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.

turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.

spec sheet

first flight

1958-06-20

introduced

1961

retired

2003

status

retired

number built

356

role

helicopter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Westland Aircraft, Westland Helicopters

engines

2× de Havilland Gnome H.1200 Mk.110/111 / Napier Gazelle / Gnome

passengers

16

length

20.1 m

rotor diameter

17.1 m

height

4.8 m

max take-off weight

6,124 kg

top speed

212 km/h

cruise speed

196 km/h

range

500 km

ceiling

3,658 m

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