The Westland Yeovil was a British biplane bomber designed and built by Westland Aircraft in 1923 to meet an Air Ministry Specification for a single-engined day bomber.

Yeovil
Role	Bomber Type of aircraft
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Westland Aircraft
First flight	1925
Status	Retired
Number built	3

Development

The Yeovil was designed to meet Air Ministry Specification 26/23 for a single-engined day bomber, with a Rolls Royce Condor engine specified by the ministry. It was a two-bay staggered biplane of composite wood and metal construction. It had a crew of two with the pilot in a cockpit at the front with the bomb aimer/gunner behind.[1] It was powered by a nose-mounted tractor 665 hp (496 kW) Rolls Royce Condor IIIA piston engine, fitted with a Leitner-Watts metal propeller.[2]

Three prototypes were ordered, the first prototype J7508 made its first flight in 1925 from RAF Andover, with Captain Frank Courtney as the test pilot. The prototype was delivered to RAF Martlesham Heath for evaluation against the other aircraft built to meet the specification, the Hawker Horsley and the Bristol Berkeley. After evaluation the Yeovil and Berkley were not ordered into production, the Horsley had already been given a contract against a different specification. The three Yeovil prototypes continued to fly for a few years for research and testing.

Specifications

Data from FLIGHT[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
• Wingspan: 59 ft 6 in (18.14 m)
• Height: 14 ft 3 in (4.34 m)
• Wing area: 798 sq ft (74.1 m²)
• Empty weight: 4,658 lb (2,113 kg)
• Gross weight: 7,864 lb (3,567 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Condor V-12 water-cooled piston engine, 650 hp (480 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 120 mph (190 km/h, 100 kn)

Armament

• Guns: 1x fixed forward-firing machine gun, with two on a flexible mount in the rear cockpit

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Hawker Horsley
• Bristol Berkeley
• Handley Page H.P.28 Handcross

Related lists

• List of Air Ministry specifications

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westland Yeovil.