Westland Welkin

[Milocat 4,854]

The Westland Welkin was a twin-engined British interceptor aircraft designed to engage and destroy extremely high-altitude Luftwaffe Ju 86P bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.  It was designed on the same general layout of the Westland Whirlwind twin-engined fighter but incorporated features specifically to improve high-altitude performance including a large wingspan, supercharged engines, and a pressurized canopy.  The pressurized canopy proved to be the most difficult part of the aircraft to engineer, and required a specialized electrical system installed to minimize the number of seals needed between the canopy and the external aircraft systems.  Armor was installed all around the cockpit, which itself was made of bulletproof perspex, in order to hopefully keep it from depressurizing in case of battle damage.  Even then, the pilot wore an altitude suit in case the cockpit depressurized or he had to bail out at altitude, and an oxygen mask, as even when pressurized the air in the cockpit was still too thin to comfortably breathe.

 

The Welkin proved superfluous in its intended role, as by the time the aircraft were cleared for production the Luftwaffe had abandoned its high-altitude reconnaissance missions, and in the interim the RAF had responded to such incursions with specially modified Mosquito and Spitfire variants tuned for high-altitude performance.  Despite this, a production run of 100 Welkins was ordered, 75 of which were ultimately completed.  The aircraft were never used operationally but were used to perform experiments in high-altitude flying and tactics.  Late in the war a single Welkin was modified to create a radar-equipped night fighter but the project was not pursued further.  

 

The Welkin never got to show off its capabilities in real combat, but I think it would be an excellent addition to War Thunder!  It would provide the allies with a reliable high-altitude interceptor that should be able to climb to meet any bomber and shoot it down.  

 

Specifications: 

Engines:  Two Rolls-Royce Merlin 76/77 12-cylinder inline engines, 1,233 hp each

Length:  12.67m

Wingspan:  21.3m

Height:  4.8m

Empty Weight:  3,768 kg (8,310 lb)

Loaded Weight:  4,697 kg (10,356 lb)

Maximum Takeoff Weight:  5,175 kg (11,410 lb)

Maximum Speed:  625 kmh (385 mph)

Crew:  1

Armament:  Four 20mm Hispano cannons (138 rpg inner pair, 145 rpg outer pair, probably Mk II variant)

Number built:  75 + 2 prototypes

 

Images:  

Spoiler

 

Sources:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Welkin 

https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=523 

https://www.historynet.com/scaling-new-heights.htm 

http://www.airvectors.net/avwhirl.html 

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_westland_welkin.html 

http://www.military.cz/british/air/war/fighter/welkin/welkin_en.htm 

http://www.wardrawings.be/WW2/Files/2-Airplanes/Allies/3-UK/01-Fighters/Westland-Welkin/Westland-WelkinF1.htm 

http://airwar.ru/enc/fww2/welkin.html 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Milocat

[SAUBER_KH7 3,326]

Open for Discussion.

[Milocat 4,854]

Just now, SAUBER_KH7 said:

Open for Discussion.

 

Thank you!  

[TerikG2014 1,389]

Isn't this already in the game files?

[Z3r0_ 4,128]

3 minutes ago, TerikG2014 said:

Isn't this already in the game files?

 

I believe it is, but Gaijin hasn't done anything with it yet, so there's still room for discussion.

[onemax9000 1,243]

+1 gib 

[Zombificus 792]

I’d love to see this. I’m a big fan of twin engined fighters, but unfortunately there aren’t a lot of higher tier ones. The Welkin could fill that role for Britain, and the radar-equipped version could easily be a premium or event plane. Hopefully this suggestion is the push that gets it out of the game files and into the game.

[Wolf_89 2,525]

Welkin Mk.I & Welkin Mk.I late is already in the files. And i do hope Gaijin finish them. And all the other vehicles that are rusting away in the files :'( 

Spoiler

Welkin Mk.I

Welkin Mk.I late

 

[SneakySausage 786]

Another plane id love to see in game.

 

Probably best as a premium or event seeing as it a limited production and saw no combat

[dogeness 295]

This would be a nice addition. Would be a powerful, maneuverable heavy fighter.

[Solarmod 1,203]

That's a W I D E  boy

 

+1

[J26Lennox26@psn 189]

We need a High altitude interceptor of this kind, ABSOLUTELY WANT THIS 

[Borotovas 4,500]

On 03/06/2019 at 13:42, Wolf_89 said:

Welkin Mk.I & Welkin Mk.I late is already in the files. And i do hope Gaijin finish them. And all the other vehicles that are rusting away in the files :'( 

  Hide contents

Welkin Mk.I

Welkin Mk.I late

 

 

It would be a very easy add, that would add more diversity to the game.

 

+1 It would be an interesting plane to fight.

[druidh58 656]

Ideal for dealing with the ME264 spam. I like.

[VinChenzo1982@psn 56]

As it is already in the files, it gets my vote.

[AspandaIV 375]

One of the sources (more specifically the one from airvectors.net) you listed stated that the Welkin has 138 rounds for the inner cannons and 145 rounds for the outer cannons for a total count of 566 rounds

As for the cannons it's most likely going to be Hispano Mk.II since the Welkin was put into service in 1942

Anyways +1

[Milocat 4,854]

1 hour ago, AspandaIV said:

One of the sources (more specifically the one from airvectors.net) you listed stated that the Welkin has 138 rounds for the inner cannons and 145 rounds for the outer cannons for a total count of 566 rounds

As for the cannons it's most likely going to be Hispano Mk.II since the Welkin was put into service in 1942

Anyways +1

 

Thank you, I have updated the initial post appropriately.  

[EpsteinMyLove 16]

Here is some more data I found:

 

According to Tony Buttlers "British secret Projects, Fighters and Bombers 1935-1950:

 

× The top speed was 623 kph at 7.925m

 

× The Welkin was less maneauverable than the Mosquito

 

And According to https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Westland_Welkin

 

× It had a low critical mach Number due to its long and thick Wings causing the flight envelope (flyable speed range) between high-incidence stall and shock-stall to become very small at high altitudes.

 

× It had compressability problems that strongly handicaped it.

 

× It had a climbrate of 19.58m/s

 

(I read somewhere that the mach issues started at 0.6 and it became uncontrollable at 0.65 for the prototype, but I can't seem to find that source again so take this with a lot of salt)

 

---------

 

As much as I like the looks of this plane, a reason it might not yet have been added may be it's raw performance that makes it hard to place in the game. It climbs and has the firepower of a 5.3-6.3 prop, but is also outspeeded and outturned by every fighter at that BR-range, which is not a good combination. And at lower Br's it might just be too much of a Monster, although most planes can still just outdive it. 

 

Still +1 since I love that plane and would fly it for the sake of it anyways.

[EpsteinMyLove 16]

Update to my last statement in brackets:

 

It is stated that the Welkin used the NACA 23015 Airfoil in it's outer wings, which, according to this study conducted by NACA, has a citical Mach-Number (Mcr) of just ~0.59, which is approx. 730kph on sealevel.

 

 

[Knightmare49 119]

+1

Quite an interesting aircraft I'll say, and certainly a welcomed addition for the British Aircraft Tree.

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

+1 why not? ^_^

[doflite 100]

I would say it should be an event vehicle because of limited production, low speed but insane climb rate, making it a very odd plane.

[dannaryan@psn 2,094]

Me likey! Another British twin.

[reinforcer9@psn 16]

yes very nice see no reason not to have it in since we have its brother ingame already +1 from me

Edited February 24, 2021 by reinforcer9@psn
yes

[AceOfAces99@psn 4,109]

Supported positively, +1!

 

Support me back, the suggestion is in the signature!