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  The
manufacture of aircraft has been undertaken on the Yeovil site
of what is now Westland Helicopters since 1915. At the turn
of the century, before the first aeroplane had flown, Yeovil
was better known as a market town and centre for the gloving
industry, the only significant engineering activity in the area,
was with Petters limited who produced oil engines providing
power for agricultural purposes and light industry.
The Petter engines were in considerable demand and the Nautilus Works,
situated in the centre of Yeovil was producing up to 1500 engines
annually during the years immediately before the war. Petters
was a family company, run by twin brothers, Ernest and Percy
Petter. Such was the success of their oil engines, that by the
outbreak of war they were already looking for a suitable site
for a new foundry near the railway.
In addition to the foundry, some 75 acres of farmland was purchased
in order to build a garden village to house the expected increase
in the workforce. The whole plan was changed by the onset of
war, as hostilities gathered momentum, so the consumption of
ammunition and equipment increased, outstripping the existing
capacity and there was an immediate appeal from  the
government for companies to turn their attention to the armament
manufacture.
The Petters responded immediately, and telegrams were sent to both
the War Office and the Admiralty offering to place their facilities
and workforce at government disposal, for use in any capacity.
Their approach was received with some indifference by the War
Office, but a prompt reply came from the Admiralty. Following
a meeting in London, it was suggested that the local sewing
skills in the gloving industry, combined with Petters engineering
capability could be well adapted for aircraft manufacture.
The result was an order for twelve Short
Type 184 patrol seaplanes, followed by a contract to build
twenty Short Type 166, the
completed seaplanes were transported to Hamble for flight testing.
The success with the seaplanes resulted in a contract to build
Sopwith 1½ Strutters.
 By
1916 construction of the factory and airfield was well in hand,
completion of Sopwith contracts was quickly followed by order
to build de Havilland
4 and 9 two-seat
bombers, these were often delivered directly to the Western
front. It became a Westland custom to ballast the rear seat
of these aircraft with a barrel of the local cider.
Towards the end of the war, Westland were sub-contracted by
de-Havilland to install the American Liberty engine in the DH-9
to produce the DH-9A,
having completed this work satisfactorily, Westland became the
prime contractor for the type. This was an important factor
in establishing Westland as a major company in Britain's aircraft
industry.
Westland were also contracted to build 75 Vickers
Vimys and had completed 25 of these when the war ended,
by which time over 1100 aircraft had been delivered. Many of
the original buildings, including the large hangar constructed
for Vimy production, are still in use within the Yeovil factory
today.
With peace came uncertainty. In the years which followed the
First World War, Westland designed a number of civil aircraft
including the Limousine,
Three engined Wessex airliner,
Woodpidgeon and Widgeon.
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