Q Branch - Westland reconnaissance drone

British helicopter manufacturer Westland produced a remotely controlled helicopter shaped like a flattened sphere, with four legs ending in circular pads.

The rotor span was 5 feet (1.5 m.) and the body was 2 feet (60 cm.) wide. It could carry a variety of surveillance payloads.



Extra information contributed by Toby Robson:

"I used to be a film archivist for a company called Wingspan TV - we worked on what remained of the Westland film archive a few years back (all of the best footage including the development of The Wyvern having apparently 'disappeared').

The drone you reference in the 'Q' section was known as the Wisp and was, a development of a 'proof of concept' prototype called 'Mote', which was developed using 'off-the-shelf' components from model helicopters! (which also says something of the rather belt-and-braces approach of the British aviation industry in the 70's).

Westland also developed a larger twin contra-rotor heli drone called 'Wide Eye' and I remember one section of film we transferred showing a rather spectacular crash where a prototype model dropped out the sky after some sort of component or control failure. Wide Eye was a barrel shaped object with retractable landing gear which folded up into its sides.

Both Wisp and Wide Eye appear to have been controlled by a very simple remote unit which could be loaded into the back of a Landrover. Both were extremely peculiar looking flying machines, and one can't but wonder if some of the many reports of UFOs in the Salisbury plain area during the 70s were related to these strange UAVs on test flights.

I've no idea as to whether either of these prototypes saw service (I've never heard an record of British military use) - but given recent speculation about 'mini drones' using rotors, as well as the apparent failures of the British army Phoenix UAV, perhaps shows they were ahead of their time in some ways."