Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

General purpose military biplane

Power Plant:

One 358 kw (480 hp) Bristol Jupiter VIIIF nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine gun firing forward through propeller; one 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine gun mounted on Scarff ring on rear cockpit; accommodation for up to 263 kg (580 lb) of bombs

History:

In 1927 specification 26/27 was issued in Great Britain for a general purpose military aeroplane to be used for light bombing sorties, artillery observation patrols, reconnaissance and photographic work for the RAF, and later target towing. To meet this requirement the Wapiti was designed and built by the Westland Aircraft Works.  Initial engine fitted was the 313 kw (420 hp) Bristol Jupiter VI but other variants of this engine, and the Jaguar and the Panther, were also installed.

The prototype (J8495) made its first flight on 7 March 1927, this aircraft having the wings, tail surfaces, ailerons and interplane struts of the de Havilland DH.9A.  It was taken to the armaments testing unit at the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk where it was compared in a competition with the Fairey IIIF, Fairey Ferret and Vickers Valiant.

After some re-design the aircraft entered production for the RAF, the initial order being for 25 Mk Is of composite wood and metal construction, having a square-section metal tube forward fuselage and wooden rear fuselage, with wooden wings, and fabric covering.  The Wapiti IA differed in having a geared Jupiter VIII engine in place of the direct drive Jupiter VI and had increased wing stagger, this being the model supplied to the RAAF.

The Wapiti II was a development with the whole of the fuselage being of duralumin tubing and the wings were metallised.  The Mk IIA was an all metal version, initially fitted with a geared Jupiter VIII but later having the VIIIF, IXF, XFA or XIF.  The Mk III was the variant supplied to the South African Air Force, 27 being supplied.  The Mk IV was a variant for Spain with a 485 kw (650 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Nbis engine but was not completed.  The Wapiti V had an Armstrong Siddeley Panther engine and the fuselage was lengthened by 61 cm (2 ft).  The Mk VI was a dual control trainer; the Mk VII was later to become the Wallace; and the Mk VIII had the Jaguar IIA engine and was supplied to China.  One Mk IIA (K1142) was used for early experiments with in-flight refuelling as a receiver aircraft, the tanker being a Vickers Virginia.

Some 565 Wapitis were built and they saw service for some years with the RAF, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the late 1920s.  The first RAF unit to receive the Wapiti was No 84 Squadron at Shaibah in Iraq in 1928, followed by Nos 30 and 35 Squadrons, and seven squadrons in India where it served for more than eight years.  In the United Kingdom it equipped Auxiliary Air Force Squadrons.

One ( registered G-AAWA), a Mk V, was taken to South America and demonstrated in Argentina and Uruguay. Another (S5094) was fitted with a 352 kw (472 hp) Jupiter VI FT engine and tested by the Seaplane Flight at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe in 1928.  Another (J9102) in 1933 was fitted with a 298 kw (400 hp) Bristol Phoenix I air-cooled diesel engine, this later being changed to a 362 kw (485 hp) Phoenix II engine. On 11 May 1934 it set an altitude record for diesel engines of 8,368 m (27,453 ft).  Two (J9095 and J9096) were used for transport duties, on occasion being used to fly the Prince of Wales on official visits to RAF units.

In 1935 a total of 24 was supplied to the RCAF.  By the beginning of World War II they were obsolete and the survivors saw out the war in the training role.

Australia placed an initial order for eight Mk I aircraft (A5-1 to A5-8), these being ordered from the United Kingdom in 1928 for general purpose use and to replace the ageing DH.9s, the first arriving in May 1929, these being fitted with a 313 kw (420 hp) Bristol Jupiter VIII geared engine. This was followed by a second order in 1931 for 20 Wapiti Mk II aircraft (A5-9 to A5-28), these having the 410 kw (550 hp) Jupiter IXF engine.

Further examples were obtained, the RAAF eventually taking on charge some 43 aircraft (A5-1 to A5-43). They were initially operated by No 1 Squadron at Laverton, VICfollowed by No 3 Squadron initially at Point Cook, VIC but later at Richmond, NSW.  One A5-35 flown by Flt Lt Charlesworth with Flt Off Miles of the RAAF, from No 1 Squadron, carried out a survey for Dr W G Woolnough, this being a circumnavigation of Australia in 1932.  This aircraft crashed near Laverton on 12 December 1939.  A survey was also carried out by Wapiti A5-36 for oil in northern Australia by Flt Lt Charlesworth in September 1932.  This aircraft was lost in a crash at Point Cook on 23 October 1932.  The Australian aircraft were overall silver doped with medium grey upper fuselage decking.

Prior to 1939 the aircraft were used for a multitude of duties, particularly demonstrations of unusual flying at air pageants, bushfire patrols, dive-bombing and rescue work.  By 1941 only six remained in RAAF service, a few ending their services as trainers and target tugs, A5-16 in the latter role surviving into 1943.  One A5-12 was modified for racing and was flown by Flt Lt A Walters.  Wapitis A5-39 to A5-43 were ex RAF aircraft, six being recorded as shipped in November 1937 on board SS Somerset to Australia arriving on 11 February 1938.

There is some conjecture that one A5-44 remained in the United Kingdom at this time to carry out catapult trials on behalf of the Australian Government, but this has not been confirmed.  It is also thought this aircraft was damaged on the wharf during shipping and was not delivered.  Aircraft with RAF serials K2257, K2262, K2265, K2268 and K2287 are known to have been transferred to the RAAF but it is not known what they became, although it is probable they were in the batch A5-39 to A5-43, all delivered in February 1938 and becoming Instructional Airframes.

In October 1935, when the Royal Australian Navy was taking delivery of  the Light Cruiser HMAS Sydney at Portsmouth, UK a Westland Wapiti, which had been converted to drone configuration for testing on a catapult (engineless), was tested when catapult test trials were conducted off Portland in Dorset.

Late in 1935 the American explorer, Lincoln Ellsworth, went missing in the Antarctic in his Northrop Gamma Polar Star.  The Royal Research Ship Discovery II made a voyage from Australia in December that year to search for the aircraft and its crew, carrying with it two RAAF aircraft, a de Havilland DH.60 Gipsy Moth A7-55 and a Westland Wapiti IIA A5-37 both fitted with floats and crewed by Flt Lt E Douglas and Fl Off A Murdoch.  During the voyage a set of skis was constructed from wood covered with sheet copper for the aircraft should they be needed.  However, on 14 January 1936 A7-55 located the Gamma and its crew 26 km (16 miles) from Little America and they were rescued, the skis and the Wapiti not needing to be used.

An RAAF Wapiti IA A5-2 was photographed at Yeovil in Somerset in the UK in 1929 fitted with skis as part of a Westland advertising campaign but was never flown with them.  The RCAF obtained 24 Mk IIIAs from the RAF and some of these operated on skis.

The fates of the other Australian Wapitis were: A5-1, A5-4, A5-5, A5-9, A5-11, A5-14, A5-17, A5-32, A5-34, A5-40, A5-41, and A5-43 all became Instructional Airframes Nos 1 to 12.  A5-5 crashed at Ascot Vale, VIC in 1940; A5-6 and A5-8 collided and crashed at Point Cook on 6 February 1933; A5-7 crashed at Echuca, VIC on 30 October 1935; A5-15 crashed after striking wires near Point Cook on 13 August 1935; A5-18 crashed in April 1935 in bad weather near Ballarat, VIC; A5-19 crashed on 25 April 1938 at Whittlesea, VIC; A5-20 crashed near Seymour, VIC on 26 February 1931; A5-24 crashed on 16 January 1931 at Exeter, NSW; A5-28 crashed on 26 May 1937 at Gunbower, VIC; A5-29 crashed on 25 October 1930 at Altona, VIC; and A5-31 crashed as a result of structural failure at Werribee, VIC on 16 April 1935.  The others were retired early in World War II and were probably broken up.

One example of the Wapiti survives; this aircraft (marked K183) is on show at the Indian Air Force Museum at Palam in New Delhi.  In 2015 the museum announced that work was proceeding to return the Wapiti to airworthy condition for operation by the Indian Air Force Vintage Flight.

One incomplete Westland Wallace has been restored at the RAF Museum at Hendon in Greater London, UK.