GKN closing Westlands
Discussion
GKN have announced the closure of the helicopter manufacturing site at Yeovil. End of an era
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/17/g...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/17/g...
NigelStn said:
GKN sold 'Westlands' many years ago to Agusta (now called Leonardo), but has an operation within the main site
Michael Heseltine had a notable bust up with Margaret Thatcher back in the mid-80s - he favouring a merger with Sikorsky, she favouring the merger with Agusta. They've got some world leading tech but stumble when it come to reliability/parts where sub-contractors let them down quite a bit. I worked on Merlin Mk3/Mk3A's for about 5 years and they weren't the most reliable bits of kit, even for helicopters, but the tech (when it worked) was amazing!
It looks like the NH90 range should be their main focus, after the UK only Wildcat, but even that doesn't seem to be selling as well as it should.
It looks like the NH90 range should be their main focus, after the UK only Wildcat, but even that doesn't seem to be selling as well as it should.
IanH755 said:
They've got some world leading tech but stumble when it come to reliability/parts where sub-contractors let them down quite a bit. I worked on Merlin Mk3/Mk3A's for about 5 years and they weren't the most reliable bits of kit, even for helicopters, but the tech (when it worked) was amazing!
It looks like the NH90 range should be their main focus, after the UK only Wildcat, but even that doesn't seem to be selling as well as it should.
I think the NH90 programme has had more reliability issues than the Merlin!!!It looks like the NH90 range should be their main focus, after the UK only Wildcat, but even that doesn't seem to be selling as well as it should.
ecsrobin said:
I think the NH90 programme has had more reliability issues than the Merlin!!!
Got a mate that was a Merlin tech at RAF Benson, apparently at one point they were so short of spares they cannibalised one aircraft to keep the others flying. Someone stuck the instructions for the Revell Merlin kit to the side of it, apparently a visiting MOD bod wasn't too impressed... lufbramatt said:
Got a mate that was a Merlin tech at RAF Benson, apparently at one point they were so short of spares they cannibalised one aircraft to keep the others flying. Someone stuck the instructions for the Revell Merlin kit to the side of it, apparently a visiting MOD bod wasn't too impressed...
It was one of the Westlands Reps who did it when he left. He took the model kit out of the box and put it on a plinth with a engraved plaque saying "Here's that spare parts pack you kept asking for" (or words to that effect) and gave it to the Senior Engineering Officer of the Squadron (SEngO) who did see the funny side. His replacement a few years later however, didn't! We had 3-4 on average at RAF Benson that were stripped of various parts to keep the others going but the "Depth Maintenance" at RNAS Culdrose (where the "annual" maint was done) had 10-15 in the same condition and each one was "robbed" of various spare parts until a "No Rob Option" was placed on it to allow it to be rebuilt. Spare parts were something that everyone wanted but Westlands and their sub-contractors could never supply enough of.
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