Westland Secret Projects Illustrated (July 2025)

Crammed with large drawings and photos from the official Westland – now Leonardo – archive, this new volume provides a visual history of the company’s lesser-known and more adventurous ‘secret projects’.

Developments of the superb Lysander and turboprop Wyvern are included, as well as 1950s jet fighter and attack designs such as Westland’s competitor for the contest eventually won by Blackburn’s Buccaneer. But arguably Westland’s greatest achievements have been in the field of rotary wing aircraft – with projects including a troop transport version of the Westminster which had the potential to rival Mil’s Mi-8, a rival for Bell’s Jet Ranger, a wide range of innovative attack and stealth helicopters and tilt rotors, advanced compound helicopters and early drones.

Westland Secret Projects Illustrated presents a wealth of design imagery showing designs that were never built, inviting readers to consider what might have been. Intended to inform, intrigue and perhaps inspire, this collection aims to provide the clearest possible view of these astonishing British projects.