Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Signed looks likes authors in from. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Images are beautiful bright and vivid. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> The Westland story begins in an ironmonger’s shop in Yeovil High Street during the late 1860s moves into the manufacture of agricultural equipment and progresses into the sub-contract production of aircraft for other manufacturers during and after the 1914-18 War. The creation of military fighters and bombers autogyros civil transports and light aircraft among which were the unusual tailless Pterodactyl family spanned not only the 21 inter-war years but also those of the 1939-45 War. Then in the following year Westland struck out on a new course. This led it into the still relatively new field of rotary-winged flight through the licenced-production of Sikorsky helicopters. Thus for the greater part of its life Westland’s design engineering and marketing efforts have been dedicated to this class of aircraft with great success. The burden of responsibility for chronicling the history of this great company has been greatly eased by the willing assistance of many people chief among them being Harald Penrose Fred Ballam and Peter Batten. For several years this triumverate carried the author along with their buoyant enthusiasm for Westland and all its works. Harald Penrose the doyen of British test pilots not only provided a mass of source material on the company’s general history but gave personal comment and reminiscences about its aircraft and access to his extensive collection of photographs. Fred Ballam cheerfully undertook the daunting task of reading and correcting the raw manuscript covering all the helicopter chapters discovered long-forgotten project drawings and answe hundreds of questions drawing on his lifetime service with Westland. Any errors and omissions must however be laid at the author’s door. Peter Batten undid the Gordian Knot of differing company photographic reference systems (SP)