Skip to content
Log in
Contact us
Search:
Westland
100 Years of History
The story of Yeovil's magnificent flying machines
Home
About
History of Westland
Topics
Contributors
Oral histories
Get involved
You are here:
Home
>
Topics
>
Petter family
Petter family
Jack Sweet is a local historian in Yeovil and recalls that members of his family worked at Petters and Westland
https://www.westland100.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Jack-Sweet-family-westland-connection-clip.mp3
Liz Capper is the granddaughter of Percy Petter who, with his twin brother Ernest, founded Westland in 1915. She says her grandfather's religious beliefs and high principles strongly influenced the setting-up of the company
https://www.westland100.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Liz-Capper-on-Percy-Petter-clip.mp3
Liz Capper is the granddaughter of Percy Petter who, with his twin brother Ernest, founded Westland in 1915. She says the brothers were very much alike in their looks but very different in their outlook
https://www.westland100.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Liz-Capper-Percy-and-Ernest-as-twin-brothers-clip.mp3
Stephen Petter, grandson of Guy Petter, remembers the Petter brothers; Percy, Ernest and Guy
https://www.westland100.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Stephen-Petter-early-petters-clip.mp3
The Petters invented the horseless carriage and the Nautilus fire grate. They also generated the electricity that lit the streets of Yeovil. Joseph Lewis, Heritage Co-ordinator at the South Somerset Community Access Heritage Centre in Yeovil recalls those early inventions
https://www.westland100.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Joseph-Lewis-value-of-different-products-to-westland-survival-clip.mp3
When orders for aircraft were flat, Westland would make other products to help balance the books. Joseph Lewis, Heritage Co-ordinator at the South Somerset Community Access Heritage Centre in Yeovil recalls that Pianola's and an early type of adding machines were some of the many inventions made by Westland
https://www.westland100.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Joseph-Lewis-Westland-diversification-clip.mp3
Topics
Trade unions
My working day
My first day
Westland Affair
Test pilots
Fun days
Women in the workplace
How I did my job
Aircraft types
World War 1: the beginning
The interwar and experimental age
World War 11: wartime production
1950 to 2015
World Helicopter Speed Record
Canteen
Health and Safety
Wages
Computerisation
Hendford Halt
Progress chasers
VH 71 American Presidential Helicopter
Apprentices
Westland 'shadow' factories
Crash landings
Sport and leisure
Getting to work and leaving work
Staff and manual
Blade shop
Royal visits
Petter family
Harald Penrose
WG30
Falklands war
Diversification
No Joke Working at Westland