Long-term Debt (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended								3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended					12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2013 The Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Floating Rate Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Non Floating Rate Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 2008 Note Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 2009 Note Purchase Agreement [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 2013 Note Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 2013 Note Purchase Agreement [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 First Closing Notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Second Closing Notes [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 2008 Term Loan [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 2008 Term Loan [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 2008 Term Loan [Member] Minimum [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 2008 Term Loan [Member] Maximum [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Agreement [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Foreign Performance Guarantee Facilities [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Foreign Lines of Credit And Overdraft Facilities [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Foreign Lines of Credit And Overdraft Facilities [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Domestic Line Of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Chinese Credit Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Chinese Credit Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Chinese Credit Facility, RMB Denominated Loan [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Agreement [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Agreement [Member] Minimum [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving Credit Agreement [Member] Maximum [Member]
Issuance Date							Oct. 01, 2008	Apr. 01, 2009	Oct. 01, 2013		Oct. 01, 2013			Oct. 01, 2008
Face Amount									$ 250,000,000			$ 150,000,000
Variable Rate Basis													LIBOR											prime rate or an adjusted LIBOR				prevailing interest rate offered by the People's Bank of China on the date of borrowing	lender's cost of borrowing rate at the date of borrowing	LIBOR
Basis Spread On Variable Rate															1.00%	2.25%												25.00%	3.00%				0.85%	1.65%
Debt Covenant, Ratio Of Consolidated Net Debt to Debt Covenant EBITDA				3.5 to 1.0																												3.50:1
Debt Covenant, Minimum Consolidated Net Worth Calculation, Base Value				800,000,000													800,000,000	800,000,000
Debt Covenant, Minimum Consolidated Net Worth Calculation, Percentage of Net Income				50.00%																										50.00%		50.00%
Debt Covenant, Minimum Consolidated Net Worth Calculation, Percentage of Net Proceeds of Issuance of Capital Stock																	50.00%	50.00%
Debt Covenant, Calculations, Period Of Time				rolling four quarter basis
Cross default provisions related to the Company’s other outstanding debt arrangements in excess of this amount, the occurrence of which would permit the lenders to accelerate the amounts due thereunder				60,000,000
Debt Covenant, Ratio Of Consolidated Net Debt to Debt Covenant EBITDA During Material Acquisition Period, Maximum				4.0 to 1.0																												4.00:1
Debt Covenant, Maximum Percentage of Priority Debt To Consolidated Net Worth				25.00%
Prepayment, Maximum Percentage of Principal				100.00%
Prepayment, Partial Payment Minimum				1,000,000
Debt Instrument Prepayment Make Whole Amount Computation					computed as a percentage of the principal amount of such the floating rate Notes equal to (a) 2%, on or prior to November 15, 2014, (b) 1%, after November 15, 2014 and on or prior to November 15, 2015, and (c) 0% after November 15, 2015.	discounting the remaining scheduled payments of interest and principal of the Notes being prepaid at a discount rate equal to the sum of 50 basis points and the yield to maturity of U.S. Treasury securities having a maturity equal to the remaining average life of the Notes being prepaid.
Debt financing costs	1,651,000	2,185,000	0						1,400,000									1,651,000
Amortization of debt financing costs recognized as interest expense	1,045,000	1,074,000	764,000										128,000						100,000
Balance of unamortized debt financing costs	3,869,000	3,263,000								200,000										1,529,000
Line of Credit Facility, Initiation Date																	Jul. 10, 2013							Dec. 21, 2012
Line of Credit Facility, Expiration Date																								Dec. 20, 2013							Jul. 02, 2018
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity	638,618,000																				10,391,000	28,227,000		200,000,000	600,000,000	22,700,000				600,000,000		600,000,000
Outstanding borrowings	$ 0																$ 0	$ 0			$ 0	$ 0	$ 329,000	$ 200,000,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Credit facility effective interest rate on outstanding borrowing																								1.06%
Line of Credit Facility, Rationale for Classification as Long-term Debt																								Woodward classified the $200,000 outstanding on the Line of Credit as long-term as of September 30, 2013 based on its intention to refinance the $200,000 using new long-term debt facilities and/or its existing revolving credit facility. Woodward currently has the ability to utilize its $600,000 revolving credit facility, which matures in July 2018, to refinance the entire $200,000 outstanding balance, if necessary.