Aircraft Data Sheet: Westminster (1958)
First flight: 15th June 1958
Rotor diameter: 21.95m/72ft 0ins
Length: 26.44m/86ft 9ins
Max weight: 14,969kg/33,000lb
Max speed: 241 kph/130knots
Power: Two 3,150shp/2,349kW Napier Eland E229A turboshaft engines
Accommodation: 2 crew & 45 passengers
No Built: 2
"The Westminster extended the Westland design organisation even further in an attempt to produce a large single rotor transport helicopter. The project was based upon a research vehicle, wholly funded by Westland using the Sikorsky S-56 rotor and transmission system, powered by two large Eland gas turbines.
Two prototypes were produced, the first being a dedicated research airframe with a simple tubular steel structure, the second prototype was fully representative aerodynamically intended to lead to a production standard.
However, indications were that official support could not be guaranteed and further work did not proceed beyond the research phase."
Above is from the Wastelands website.
I'd love to see that aircraft with 45 passengers! I can see the advertising now, 'every seat with a breathtaking view', 'excellent ventillation', 'quick egress in the event of an emergency'. Though maybe the toilet wouldn't have been too private.....
I beleive the poor old FTE (at least now he's old, don't know about the poor though) sat in the back on his own, not physically connected to the cockpit.
Thanks to the advances in computing, nobody seems to build the weird and wonderful stuff any more, you know, the ones designed for a bit of practical research after a bad trip on something medicinal.
S.U.