Westland Wapiti
The Westland Wapiti was a two-seat general-purpose biplane built by Westland to replace the Airco DH.9A, reusing the older type's wings and struts around a new fuselage because the tight-budget 1926 specification demanded maximum use of DH.9A components. First flown on 7 March 1927, it entered RAF service in Iraq in 1928 and spent the 1930s on army-cooperation work in India and the Middle East. History of War counts 517 built for the RAF between 1928 and 1932; of the South African Mk IIIs, four were built at Yeovil and 27 in South Africa. The type also served in Australia, Canada, China and India, an Indian squadron still flew it in action in April 1942, and a single example survives in New Delhi.
Why It Mattered
The Wapiti existed because the RAF's money was short: the 1926 specification for a DH.9A replacement demanded a design that reused as many DH.9A components as possible. Westland had built over 400 DH.9As, and its design won the competition against seven rivals. The result spent the early 1930s as the RAF's general-purpose workhorse overseas: twenty-one RAF and three Indian Air Force squadrons flew the type between 1928 and 1942. History of War sums up that work as service as an "imperial policeman" in India and the Middle East.
Design Notes
The Wapiti was a two-seat biplane with two open cockpits and fixed landing gear. It kept the DH.9A's wings, ailerons and interplane struts, but wrapped them around a new fuselage that was longer and wider than the older machine's. A design error left that fuselage 18 inches too short, and the type was given a much larger fin and rudder to compensate. Construction moved from the Mk I's mix of wood and metal to the all-metal Mk IIA, the main production version. Its Jupiter radial gave 550 hp in Mk IIA form, and armament was a forward-firing .303-inch machine gun, a Lewis gun in the rear cockpit and up to 580 lb of bombs.
Operational History
The prototype first flew in early 1927, and the type entered RAF service with No. 84 Squadron in Iraq in June 1928. In December 1928, Wapitis of No. 20 Squadron escorted the Victoria troop carriers used in the evacuation of Kabul. During that evacuation a Wapiti became the first aircraft to fly through the Khyber Pass. Most of the type's work was army cooperation in India and Iraq, acting at times as a bomber or on reconnaissance. History of War counts 517 Wapitis produced for the RAF between 1928 and 1932, with others sold to Australia, China and South Africa. The South African Mk III run was split between the two countries: four built at Yeovil and twenty-seven in South Africa. Australia took some 43 aircraft into RAAF charge, and 24 were supplied to the RCAF in 1935; by the Second World War the Canadian survivors saw out the war in the training role. When the Second World War began, only Nos. 5 and 27 Squadrons RAF and No. 1 Squadron IAF still flew the Wapiti, all in India. The type's one combat episode of the war came on 6 April 1942, when a No. 104 Squadron (IAF) Wapiti spotted a Japanese force attacking a merchant ship off Vizagapatnam and shadowed it. The squadron retained its Wapitis until November 1942.
Afterlife
Aeropedia reports that one example of the Wapiti survives, on show at the Indian Air Force Museum at Palam in New Delhi. Wikipedia identifies the New Delhi aircraft as K-813, the last surviving aircraft of the type. Australia's aircraft mostly became instructional airframes, and Aeropedia records that the rest were retired early in the Second World War and probably broken up. Parts of a second aircraft, K-811, were reported at the New Delhi museum's store, but by June 2012 only its lower wing survived, in ruinous condition. In 2015 the museum announced plans to restore its Wapiti to flying condition for the Indian Air Force's vintage flight.