Rolls-Royce aircraft piston engines

Rolls-Royce produced a range of piston engine types for aircraft use in the first half of the 20th century. Production of own-design engines ceased in 1955 with the last versions of the Griffon; licensed production of Teledyne Continental Motors general aviation engines was carried out by the company in the 1960s and 1970s.

Examples of Rolls-Royce aircraft piston engine types remain airworthy today with many more on public display in museums.

WWI In 1915, the Eagle, Falcon, and Hawk engines were developed in response to wartime needs. The Eagle was very successful, especially for bombers. It was scaled down by a factor of 5:4 to make the Falcon or by deleting one bank of its V12 cylinders to make the Hawk. The smaller engines were intended for fighter aircraft. Subsequently, it was enlarged to make the Condor which saw use in airships.Lumsden 2003, pp.183-190.

Inter-war years

The Kestrel was a post-war redesign of the Eagle featuring wet cylinder liners in (two) common cylinder blocks. It was developed into the supercharged Peregrine and later the Goshawk.Lumsden 2003, pp.190-198.

Developed concurrently with the Kestrel was the unusual Rolls-Royce Eagle XVI X engine that was cancelled in favour of the Kestrel despite performing well on the test stand.

The Buzzard was an enlargement of the Kestrel Lumsden 2003, p.198. of Condor size, developed in its most extreme form into the Rolls-Royce R racing engine used for the Schneider Trophy competition.Lumsden 2003, p.199.

The Vulture of 1939 was essentially two Peregrines on a common crankshaft in an X-24 configuration, both of these types being deemed unsuccessful.Lumsden 2003, p.200.

WWII and beyond The Rolls-Royce Merlin, and later the development of the Buzzard, the Rolls-Royce Griffon were the two most successful designs for Rolls-Royce to serve in the Second World War, the Merlin powering RAF fighters the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, fighter/bomber de Havilland Mosquito, Lancaster and Halifax heavy bombers and also allied aircraft such as the American P-51 Mustang and some marks of Kittyhawk.

Experimental engines were developed as alternatives for high performance aircraft such as the H-24 configuration Rolls-Royce Eagle 22,Lumsden 2003, p.221. the two-stroke Rolls-Royce CrecyNahum, Foster-Pegg, Birch 2004. and the Rolls-Royce PennineRubbra 1990, p.148. and Rolls-Royce Exe, the Exe being the only one of these last three engines to fly.Lumsden 2003, p.201. However the successful development of the Merlin and Griffon, and the introduction of jet engines precluded significant production of these types.

Production of Rolls-Royce designed aircraft piston engines ceased in 1955 with the last variants of the Griffon.Lumsden 2003, p.218. Between 1961 and 1981 Rolls-Royce was licensed to build the Teledyne Continental range of light aircraft piston engines including the Continental O-520.Gunston 1989, p.42.

Surviving engines As of 2017 examples of the Falcon, Griffon, Kestrel and Merlin remain airworthy.See individual articles for details

Engines on display Various types of Rolls-Royce aircraft piston engines are on public display at the following museums: Fleet Air Arm Museum Imperial War Museum Duxford Lone Star Flight Museum Midland Air Museum Royal Air Force Museum Cosford Royal Air Force Museum London Science Museum (London) Shuttleworth Collection

Chronological list By first run date

Rolls-Royce Eagle (V-12) Rolls-Royce Hawk Rolls-Royce Falcon Rolls-Royce Condor Rolls-Royce Eagle XVI (X-16) Rolls-Royce Kestrel Rolls-Royce Buzzard Rolls-Royce Goshawk Rolls-Royce R Rolls-Royce Peregrine Rolls-Royce Merlin Rolls-Royce Exe Rolls-Royce Vulture Rolls-Royce Crecy Rolls-Royce Griffon Rolls-Royce Eagle (H-24) Rolls-Royce Pennine

Rolls-Royce aircraft piston engines

Bron en licentie