
Originally Posted by
87County
I know it's getting a bit OT, but it would be good to find out the detailed history of the subsequent RR ic engine development (which was overtaken by advances in jet turbine technology), e.g. the 2 stroke Merlin (called the Crecy), the 2nd generation Eagle and the Clyde..... there's a little bit on the net but no real detail that I've been able to find.
Laurie
The references I have are "A History of Aircraft Piston Engines", Herschel Smith, Sunflower Press, 1986 (fairly rare, but probably available) and "The Power to Fly", L.J.K. Setright, 1971 (very rare, S/H copies $500+).
The Crecy was abandoned before the end of the war, and the other engines were little more than proposals, with prototypes, as during the war all efforts went into the Merlin and Griffon after the Exe was abandoned (probably because developing it would have interfered with production and development of the Griffon), and after the war they put all their efforts into turbine and turboprop engines - before 1950 both turbine and turboprop engines were in production at Rolls Royce.
Napier persisted a little longer, and the Sabre is reputed to have produced over 5000hp in a racing aircraft (which crashed on its first flight). However, they failed in their attempts to interest anyone in the Nomad, which was a turbo-compounded diesel which claimed better fuel efficiency than anything prior to the big high bypass turbofans, but compared to them was immensely complex.
John
John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
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