Westland Wapiti

Wapiti
Wapiti of 55 Squadron RAF
General information
Type	General purpose
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Westland Aircraft
Designer	Arthur Davenport
Primary users	Royal Air Force Royal Indian Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force Royal Australian Air Force
Number built	558 + 27 licence built in South Africa[1]
History
Introduction date	June 1928
First flight	7 March 1927[1]
Variants	Westland Wallace Westland PV-3

The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service.

First flying in 1927, the Wapiti entered service with the RAF in 1928, and remained in production until 1932, a total of 565 being built. It equipped twenty squadrons of the RAF, both overseas (particularly in India and Iraq) and at home, remaining in RAF service until 1940, also being used by the Air Forces of Australia, Canada, South Africa and India. It also formed the basis for the Westland Wallace which partly replaced the Wapiti in RAF use.

The Wapiti is named for the wapiti, also known as elk, one of the largest species of the deer family and one of the largest land mammals in North America and eastern Asia.