Westland Whirlwind (fighter)

what is it?

The Westland Whirlwind was a British twin-engined fighter developed by Westland Aircraft. It was the first single-seat, twin-engined, cannon-armed fighter of the Royal Air Force. When it first flew in 1938, the Whirlwind was one of the fastest combat aircraft in the world and, with four 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 autocannon in its nose, the most heavily armed.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 13.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 579 km/htop speed
• size 5,191 kgmax take-off weight
• built 116made 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 88 years ago, in 1938.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 13.7 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.0× 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

1938-10-11

introduced

1940

retired

1943

status

retired

number built

116

role

fighter aircraft

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Westland Aircraft

engines

2× Rolls-Royce Peregrine I / Rolls-Royce Peregrine

crew

1

length

9.8 m

wingspan

13.7 m

height

3.4 m

max take-off weight

5,191 kg

top speed

579 km/h

range

—

ceiling

9,235 m

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