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Westland Dragonfly (WS-51)

Light Utility Helicopter (1950)

Fewer than 135 of the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly series helicopter were produced for the British military and others during the early-1950s.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 08/24/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

For a period in its history, Westland Aircraft of the United Kingdom produced, under license, the Sikorsky "S-51" helicopter product as the WS-51 "Dragonfly". This light utility-minded platform was operated in the Search & Rescue (SAR) and communications roles for its time in service and 133 of the type were produced by Westland from the period spanning 1949 to 1954. A first-flight of a prototype was had on October 5th, 1948 and service introduction occurred in 1950.

Rather than develop a helicopter system from scratch, Westland managed to secure a production agreement with Sikorsky for the S-51 in December of 1946. The aircraft retained all of the form and function of the original including its rather utilitarian appearance, three-bladed main rotor and three-bladed tail rotor. The wheeled tricycle undercarriage was fixed in place and the forward section of the fuselage contained a series of window panels for excellent vision out-of-the-cockpit. The helicopter was essentially a no-frills product that could be handed different over-battlefield roles.

Beyond the WS-51 prototype - the sole example completed - were several major variants: The HR.Mk 1 was the standard SAR platform of which thirteen were built for the British Royal Navy (RN) and these were powered by 1 x Alvis 50 radial piston engine 540 horsepower. The HC.Mk1 served the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in the casualty evacuation role - only two were procured. The HR.Mk 3 was used by the RN in the air-search and SAR roles and finished with all-metal rotor blades. Some seventy-one were built. The HC.Mk 4 was another casualty evacuation helicopter developed to serve the RAF and these were given the same all-metal rotor blades with production reaching twelve units in all. The HR.Mk 5 was another air-search / SAR platform and used by the RN. These were built up from existing HR.Mk 1 and HR.Mk 3 models.

Two civilian transport forms also emerged in time, these being the WS-51 Mk 1A and WS-51 Mk 1B. The former carried an Alvis "Leonides" 521/1 series radial engine of 520 horsepower and the latter was finished with a Pratt & Whitney R-985 "Wasp Junior" B4 radial engine of 450 horsepower. Production totaled 36 and 15, respectively.

Once in circulation, the series gave good service and was eventually taken on by the militaries of Egypt, Hong Kong, Italy, Thailand and Yugoslavia as well. Commercial/civilian market operations were seen with helicopter through Belgium and the United Kingdom.

The Dragonfly was directly succeeded in British Royal Navy service by the Westland "Whirlwind" helicopter - another locally-produced licensed product from Sikorksy (the S-55/H-19 "Chickasaw").

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