AgustaWestland celebrates 100 years of UK manufacturing

Westland produced many famous fixed-wing aircraft before focusing on helicopters

Established in 1915, Westland has produced many famous fixed-wing aircraft designs such as the Whirlwind, Welkin, Wapiti, Lysander before focusing on helicopter production and later on its own designs such as the Lynx and AW101.

In 2001 AgustaWestland was formed with the bringing together of two great names in aviation and since 2004 has been wholly-owned by Finmeccanica. In 2007 Agusta celebrated its centenary and now in 2015 Westland has achieved the same milestone.

Today, 100 years after building the first Short Type 184 seaplane, the Yeovil factory is at the forefront of rotorcraft technology – designing, developing and manufacturing the latest generation of rotorcraft for military and commercial applications. 

The Yeovil site is home to final assembly lines for the Super Lynx 300, AW159 and AW101 helicopters, as well as the new generation AW189 civil helicopter. It is also the main provider of helicopters to the UK Ministry of Defence, and delivers integrated operational support and training services for the MoD’s Apache AH Mk.1, Merlin, Sea King and AW159 Wildcat helicopter fleets.

In recent years the Yeovil site has expanded its involvement in commercial helicopter programmes, in particular with the AW Family of new generation helicopters which comprise the AW139, AW169 and AW189. The AW189 is the first civil aircraft to be built in Yeovil since the mid-1980s, whilst rotor blades and transmission systems are manufactured for all three members of the AW Family of helicopters.

The site employs more than 3,200 people and supports a further 6,800 jobs in the supply chain.