What helicopters should Westland have made?

[uk 75]

Arising from other threads I thought it would be interesting to give everyone a blank piece of
paper and see what helicopters Westland should have made over the years.

The helicopter that became EH 101 and started life as WG 34 has replaced both the Seaking and the Wessex in RAF and RN service. Could Westland have got its act together and produced such a helicopter earlier? After all France and Italy both produced their own (Sa330 and Ab 101)?

Alternatively would Westland have been better off acknowledging its reliance on US technology and simply following the Italian route of licence building successful US designs?

I am deliberately excluding the Anglo French options (see my previous thread now discussing something called AFVG- not a helicopter methinks)

 

[zen]

It all comes down to customer requirements really and if we go beyond that government support for a UK sourced solution.

In theory its all do-able.

In practice theres a good argument for a tradeoff, source one or two types from overseas or in international collaboration and one or two domesticaly.

Politicaly its a nightmare no matter what you choose or from where, whether domestic or abroad.

 

[Apophenia]

My candidate would be the WG.1 as a private venture. Just build it before the MoD gets bored with the paper project and orders Chinooks and Sea Kings instead.

It all comes down to customer requirements really and if we go beyond that government support for a UK sourced solution.

Good point. The WG.6 Westminster looked like a winner but garnered no military interest. Without that government 'subsidy', civil operators would need to pick up the entire development tab.

The other thing is timing. A PT6-powered Lynx would seem like a winner. The trouble is, in 1970, operators leaning towards North American equipment had already committed to Bell Hueys (eg: Canada with the 'CUH-1'/CH-118). When Westland re-floated the PT6 Lynx concept in 1974, they'd lost their twin-engined advantage too (eg: Canada with the CH-135 Twin Huey).