Comet & Sea King programmes on next week

[S7Paul]

I could have put this in TV & Radio, but I figured I'd catch more of the "right" people here.

Two programmes next week which may be of interest:


Sunday 24th Feb 20:00 Channel 4

A Great British Air Disaster - Story of the rise & fall of the DH Comet


Thursday 28th Feb 21:00 BBC2

The Sea King: Britain's Flying Past - History of the Sea King

[Eric Mc]

I'm sure the Comet programme was on before. It was pretty controversial in some of its allegations but worth a watch.

And the Sea King is an American helicopter (Westland built it under licence from Sikorsky).

[S7Paul]

Eric Mc said:

I'm sure the Comet programme was on before. It was pretty controversial in some of its allegations but worth a watch.

And the Sea King is an American helicopter (Westland built it under licence from Sikorsky).

I didn't spot an 'R' by the entry in the TV guide for the Comet programme, but may be mistaken.

I'm well aware of the Sea King's ancestry, so it'll be interesting to see how much of the pre-Westland days are covered, or whether it's totally UK-centric. Given who the presenter is (John Sargeant), I haven't set my expectations too high.

[Eric Mc]

His documentary on the Spitfire was poor, I thought - so don't hold out too much hope.

Did Westland ever put into production a helicopter that they designed totally in-house?

[ralphrj]

Eric Mc said:

His documentary on the Spitfire was poor, I thought - so don't hold out too much hope.

Did Westland ever put into production a helicopter that they designed totally in-house?

The Lynx was a Westland design I think.

[Eric Mc]

ralphrj said:

Eric Mc said:

His documentary on the Spitfire was poor, I thought - so don't hold out too much hope.

Did Westland ever put into production a helicopter that they designed totally in-house?

The Lynx was a Westland design I think.

Good call - although there was a French element to it as well.

By and large, they either took over projects started by other companies (such as the Scout and Wasp - which were originally Saunders Roe) or preferred to manufacture under licence - mainly from Sikorsky.

The WG30 was in-house as well - mainly based on the Lynx - and a commercial failure.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

His documentary on the Spitfire was poor, I thought - so don't hold out too much hope.

Oh yes, the 'Fockers', groan. Made worse by the fact it sounds exactly like Fokkers, an entirely different thing. 0/10 Mr Sargent. But never mind, here comes a squadron of 'Supers'. Tally ho.

[IroningMan]

Eric Mc said:

ralphrj said:

Eric Mc said:

His documentary on the Spitfire was poor, I thought - so don't hold out too much hope.

Did Westland ever put into production a helicopter that they designed totally in-house?

The Lynx was a Westland design I think.

Good call - although there was a French element to it as well.

By and large, they either took over projects started by other companies (such as the Scout and Wasp - which were originally Saunders Roe) or preferred to manufacture under licence - mainly from Sikorsky.

The WG30 was in-house as well - mainly based on the Lynx - and a commercial failure.

Not just by-and-large - it's the whole story, I think.

[Eric Mc]

Which was a real shame. When the British government more or less ordered that all helicopter projects by companies such as Bristol, SARO and Fairey be handed over to Westland, Westland promptly shut almost all the non-Westland projects down and went down the licence production route instead.