Westland Rotodyne       XE521

                                  

                                      By the time this shot was taken at the 1962 Farnborough Air Show, Westland had taken over
                                      the helicopter design projects of Fairey, the designer of this high speed helicopter-cum-VTOL
                                      airliner.   Developed by Fairey Aviation in response to a Ministry of Supply research contract
                                      issued in 1953, this machine could have had a promising future.  In the event, it faced the same
                                      British government funding cost-cutting of the 1960s which eliminated many other promising
                                      designs.  The funding for the Rotodyne was cut in early 1962 and corporate management at
                                      Westland decided that further Rotodyne development towards production status was not worth
                                      the private investment required.   (Despite the fact that many outfits, such as New York Airways
                                      evinced interest, and Kaman were engaged in licencing the design).  In the end the one and only
                                      prototype was broken up in the same way that the Brabazon had been a decade earlier.  In truth
                                      it was owned by the British government, anyway, and I guess they had the right to do what
                                      they liked with it.