So, the Air Ministry gave Westland a contract to refine the Wizard. But they also noted the pilot’s limited forward view and considered the aileron control loads too great. The A&AEE’s test pilots praised the Wizard’s performance: it was impressively fast and had a remarkably good climb rate. Despite the stigma of its unconventional configuration, the first Wizard attracted Air Ministry interest, and Westland was asked to submit the design for Specification F 20/27, a requirement for a new RAF fighter, a role the Wizard would have performed admirably. In an age of biplane and sesquiplane fighters, a parasol monoplane was something of a novelty. The extremely attractive Wizard fighter started life as a racing aircraft known simply as the ‘Racer’. Wizard l & ll (1926) ‘The Blackballed Wizard’ A delve through the Westland archives reveals a host of fascinating flying machines savagely discarded by history.ġ0. Westland famously produced the extremely effective Lysander, the almost brilliant Whirlwind and the superb Lynx helicopter, but not all the designs of this innovative company entered production. ![]() This West English tradition continued with Westland Aircraft, formed by the father of the great aircraft designer Teddy Petter (creator of the Canberra, the Lightning, and the Gnat among other aircraft) in 1915. As early as 1848, one John Stringfellow was experimenting with heavier-than-air flight in Somerset in West England.
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