Helicopter heritage – Leonardo stakes claim as UK hometown heroes
On 22 August, Leonardo Helicopters UK held an event at its Yeovil, Somerset HQ to mark the recognition of its location as the ‘Home of UK Helicopters’. PAUL EDEN reports.
Yeovil now has official recognition of its rotary-wing heritage. (Leonardo)
The town of Yeovil in Somerset has long been associated with British helicopter manufacturing and now, thanks to Leonardo Helicopters UK and Somerset Chamber of Commerce it is officially known as ‘The Home of British Helicopters’.
Distinctive signage leaves people arriving in the town by rail and road, and visitors to Yeovil’s Quedam Shopping Centre in no doubt of its rotary-wing significance, while close relationships with Yeovil Town FC and Yeovil College reinforce the message.
Speakers at a special event to mark the occasion at Leonardo Helicopters’ facility on 22 August stood before an impressive AW149 backdrop and there should be no doubt that the celebration was a significant element in the company’s campaign to win the UK MoD New Medium Helicopter (NMH) contract for 44 aircraft and support.
Yet this was more than a cynical marketing exercise. Among the speakers, Emma Rawlings, Chief Executive of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, fourth-year Craft Mechanical Apprentice Kayley Manns and Mark Bolton, CEO and Principal at Yeovil College, stood out for their belief in and gratitude to the company for the opportunities it has provided to local people.
From humble beginnings
In April 1933 members of the Houston expedition made an aerial survey of Mount Everest using a Westland PV3 (G-ACAZ) and a PV6 (G-ACBR) aircraft. In the course of this survey the expedition made the first flight over the world’s highest mountain. (RAeS/NAL)
The Yeovil site, whether it’s thought of as Leonardo Helicopters UK, ‘Westland’ or, according to Apple’s Maps app, ‘GKN Westland Helicopters’, produces world-class aircraft on a globally significant scale while maintaining its connection with the town’s community.
Much of that connection is entwined in the facility’s long history, the importance of which is not lost on Clive Higgins, Chair and CEO of Leonardo UK: “Leonardo is proud to build on the history of everything that has come before while investing to grow and expand into a new era. We stand on the shoulders of engineering giants as we continue to break new boundaries. Here in Yeovil, some of Britain’s most impressive inventors are forging the next generation of helicopters and conceiving some of the world’s most exciting uncrewed rotorcraft technologies.”
The story began in 1868, when James Bazeley Petter received Yeovil ironmongery Haman and Gillett as a wedding gift from his father. The business thrived and enabled Petter’s twin sons, Percival and Ernest, to forge successful engineering careers. Percy became fascinated with flying, while the company became an important engine manufacturer, known from 1910 as Petters Limited.
Seeking expansion, Petters found land for a new facility, including a garden village to house workers, to the west of Yeovil. On visiting the site in 1913, Percy’s wife declared that since the land was to the west, the village and works ought to be called Westland…
Percy no doubt influenced the company’s decision to take on aircraft building contracts during WWI. Westland became the Westland Aircraft Works in 1915, and completed its first aircraft, a Short 184 floatplane, the following year. After the Armistice brought an abrupt end to wartime contracts, Westland built a handful of aircraft of its own design and worked modifications and developments of existing machines.
The latter found its most success with the Wapiti, a ‘General Purpose’ aircraft designed around Airco DH.9A components, Westland having built many aircraft in the DH.4, 9 and 9A series. The Wapiti evolved into a modern, all-metal biplane produced between 1927 and 1932, by which time Westland was experimenting with monoplanes.
In 1934, the company dallied with rotary wings for the first time. Ernest Petter, now Sir Ernest, had resisted the approaches of autogyro pioneer Juan de la Cierva for a decade prior, and the poor showing of his C.29 proved him right.
Production continued with the home-grown Wallace, subcontracts for Hawker machines and, from 1936, the Lysander army co-operation aircraft that became a stalwart of Special Operations Executive spy drops later in WWII. That conflict saw Westland design and manufacture its own Whirlwind fighter, plus Spitfires and Seafires under licence.
Rotary revolution
Westland had success modifying existing designs from other manufacturers. The Widgeon was a private venture improvement on the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly – itself a licence built Sikorsky S-51. (RAeS/NAL)
Seafire production and support lasted into 1946, by which time the decision to build helicopters had been made. An agreement with Sikorsky saw the first Westland WS-51, later named Dragonfly, in the air during 1948, a precursor to the Whirlwind, Wessex and Sea King that followed.
The British helicopter industry was rationalised in 1959; the Bristol Belvedere and Saro’s nascent P.531, developed in to the Wasp and Scout, became Westland programmes as a result. Yeovil had become the de facto home of British helicopters.
As such, the Lynx remains the site’s only clean sheet production design and Yeovil’s helicopter success has arguably been achieved on taking others’ designs and adapting or improving them or working in partnership. Can ‘The Home of British Helicopters’ therefore really boast the full range of capabilities required to create and manufacture a helicopter from scratch?
The future
Mark Bolton, CEO and Principal, Yeovil College at the 22 August event. (Leonardo)
Speaking at the 22 August event, both Clive Higgins and Adam Clarke, MD of Leonardo Helicopters UK, referred to Yeovil’s ability to do exactly that. Asked to better define Yeovil’s helicopter capability, Clarke commented: “Yeovil has delivered more than 3,300 helicopters. Today, Leonardo is one of very few organisations in the world, and the only one in the UK, with end-to-end capability. End-to-end means the design, development, manufacture, testing and certification of helicopters, as well as the subsequent training and support for customers. We absolutely have the capabilities to start from clean sheet design to create new platforms.
“Over the last ten years, on average the company has introduced one mark of aircraft per year into service with the UK MoD and international customers. The current UK MoD helicopter fleet comprises around 220 aircraft, of which, 139 started life in Yeovil.”
New Medium Helicopter
Leonardo is pitching its AW149 at the the UK’s New Medium Helicopter requirement. (Leonardo)
Considering the AW149 and Yeovil’s future with or without the NMH contract, he continued: “From the outset, development of the AW149 has been shared between Leonardo’s helicopter facilities in Yeovil and Milan. During its development phase, over 800,000 hours of engineering activity were clocked up in Somerset.
“It’s important to think outside of traditional helicopters too. Our future with uncrewed systems is seeing design, development and progress with a clean sheet design, which will support production of future aviation technologies. Uncrewed VTOL aircraft will transform military capability while also having applications in other market sectors. The Rotary Wing Unmanned Air System contract with the UK MoD represents a major step towards our future in next generation uncrewed military technology and the sustainment of unique onshore engineering skills.”
Within this broader context, the NMH contract remains hugely important to The Home of British Helicopters and Clarke is bullish about Leonardo’s ability to deliver. “We would build the AW149 in Yeovil. With the capability we have here and our existing UK MoD relationship, we could progress the NMH into service within the 2025 timeframe,” he declares.
“The majority of the structural, main rotor and tail transmission design was undertaken in the UK, and because of that engineering investment, the design of the fuselage and build of blades and transmission is still onsite in Yeovil. Leonardo has stated that should the UK MoD acquire the AW149 for the NMH requirement, its target is to grow existing production workshare levels to over 60%. Leonardo in Yeovil has an established UK supply chain with 70 suppliers. The company sees the NMH opportunity growing that footprint.”
Export potential
In August the Polish navy received its first AW101 ASW helicopter. (Polish Procurement Agency)
Clarke also reveals that company analysis indicates an addressable global market of more than 500 similar aircraft, Leonardo having committed to addressing that market from Yeovil should the AW149 become the NMH solution.
For Higgins, Yeovil’s continued success comes from a mix of young people, retained expertise, heritage, AW149 and future development. “Our young people are our future. We have an award-winning graduate training programme and our apprenticeship programmes.
“And our heritage is truly important. We brief new starters on our history and the future legacy they can and will be part of as part of our induction process. We also have a STEM Returners programme that enables candidates to restart their career following a break.”
Local heroes
Supporting the 22 August event, Historic Helicopters flew in glorious Westland Whirlwind HAR10 XJ729… (Leonardo)
As a local person, Emma Rawlings perhaps best sums up the significance of Leonardo Helicopters at Yeovil. “This facility has brought essential skills and high level employment to generations of families in the area and plays a crucial role in the local and national economy. Leonardo’s commitment to training and development ensures a skilled workforce and its investment in its employees further cements local prosperity. We are all very proud of the helicopters designed and manufactured at Yeovil.”
The Somerset town really is, it seems, The Home of British Helicopters.