Westland Whirlwind

[Mossie]

I suspect I will be burned at the stake for suggesting this.  Has anyone ever considered a single-engined Whirlwind?   

Yes, Westland did!  There were a number of proposals using the basic layout of the Whirlwind, but larger to take more powerful engines.  They were:

A dive bomber with a turret & single Centaurus to B.20/40
A naval aircraft with a single Centaurus or Griffon (Griffon variant had a fuselage mounted tail) & four cannon to N.8/39 (eventually met by the Fairy Firefly after a change of specification)
A naval aircraft with Centaurus & a turret to N.9/39, very similar to N.8/39 proposal

We're all going to burn, but not for this at least!

[sequoiaranger]

>A naval aircraft with a single Centaurus or Griffon <

A whirlwind at sea (and keeping the "W" alliteration)--wouldn't that be a "Waterspout"? 

A whiff I had thought of a long time ago was a Hawker Tornado (LOVED those double sets of exhausts poking out of the nacelle) rigged for Naval use, and therefore called a "Waterspout". Won't happen by me (but look for a future Hawker Henley whiff to have the double exhausts!).

[brewerjerry]

Hi
   There was also a proposal for a normal peregrine engined whirlwind to be used for naval use, But it apparently fell flat at the admiralty.
   Presumably a tail hook and folding wings
       cheers
          Jerry

[The Wooksta!]

The airframe had a lot of Magnesium in it's construction.  Just what you need with lots of water around you!

[Weaver]

The problem with getting any conventional twin onto a British aircraft carrier was elevator size: most of the lifts were small, the ones on Ark Royal were very narrow, and the ones on some of the older ships were cross-shaped!

[Martin H]

There you are then, great minds think alike. Even in WHiffWorld.  

I tend to think of it as suffering from the same madness

Regards,

Greg

saw this quote on a bumper sticker the other day

"some say I suffer from insanity. I dont!  I enjoy every moment of it! "

[kitnut617]

The airframe had a lot of Magnesium in it's construction.  Just what you need with lots of water around you!

At the time, magnesium was a non-strategic material, which was why they went with it.  According to the book on Westland I have.

[The Wooksta!]

Burns wonderfully on contact with sea water...  Just what you need in a naval aircraft!

[Mossie]

Not really, only in very hot water or steam, or in powder form.  Otherwise, as soon as cold water hits it, an oxide forms that prevents the Magnesium reacting further.  The main problem would be corrosion.

[Gary]

The thing that's always surprized me about the Whirlwind is the length of the wingspan so if you solve the metal problem, extent the span a bit further, crank the wings back similar to the Hellcat, add an observer style cockpit, perhaps fuel tanks and presto, a lovely high altitude observer spotter aircraft with enough speed to avoid much of the trouble and still having the elegance of the Whirlwind and none of the clunkyness of such a long run on sentence as this.

[jcf]

The thing that's always surprized me about the Whirlwind is the length of the wingspan so if you solve the metal problem, extent the span a bit further, crank the wings back similar to the Hellcat, add an observer style cockpit, perhaps fuel tanks and presto, a lovely high altitude observer spotter aircraft with enough speed to avoid much of the trouble and still having the elegance of the Whirlwind and none of the clunkyness of such a long run on sentence as this.

Well then, I guess you'd have an aluminum structure, two-seat navalized Welkin. 

[The Wooksta!]

I'd thought much the same thing!  Then again, the Navy got exactly that aircraft.  It was the Sea Hornet.

[kitnut617]

or this!  which is to my mind a 'super' Whirlwind

[Caveman]

From secret proejects

The other alternative considered by Petter before production ceased was the use of two of Whittle's early jets.
So we have the vision of a 400mph plus Fighter for the Battle of Britain plus a 500mph Whirlwind for 1942.

so how about a get engined version? Nice big fat nacelles possibly from a meteor?

[Caveman]

In response to my own post. Here is basically my take on what the engine nacelles would look like for a RR Welland powered Whirlwind. Very rough and ready. It is basically the lower half of the Whirlwind nacelle mated to the upper half of a meteor nacelle.

thoughts?

I think I have left enough room for the engine and the landing gear but im not sure. Certainly the pilots lateral view is going to be obscured, but maybe the aircraft will be going so fast that anything not in the forward arc of view is going to be a blur anyway . Other concerning things to me is the jet pipe cutting through the wing. As I have drawn it I am imagining the Welland ending just about at the leading edge of the wing. Possibly leaving enough room for some tight ducting over the wing spar and then down out of the exhaust?