Westland PV-3

The Westland PV-3 was a British two seat torpedo bomber of the 1930s, built by Westland Aircraft Works as a private venture development of the Westland Wapiti. Designed in 1930 as a carrier torpedo bomber or army co-operation aircraft, it had an all metal structure, folding two bay wings and a Bristol Jupiter radial engine, and could carry a lightweight 1,000 lb torpedo or an equivalent weight of bombs. It first flew in February 1931 and tested well at Martlesham Heath, but no orders followed and the lightweight torpedo was cancelled. In 1932 it was chosen with the Westland PV-6, the prototype of the Wallace, for the Houston Mount Everest Flying Expedition. Remodelled with a rear cabin and a Bristol Pegasus engine, registered G-ACAZ, it flew over Everest on 3 April 1933 with Lord Clydesdale and Stewart Blacker, and later served as an engine testbed.