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Merlin The Legendary Engine and its Aircraft (Aeroplane Aviation Archive №29) PDF

100 Pages·2016·39.88 MB·English
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M E R L I N The legendary engine and its aircraft The power behind: Spitfi re Lancaster Mustang Mosquito ISSUE 29 £7.95 w … and many more w w .k e y p u b lis h in g EXCLUSIVE CUTAWAYS AND RARE PHOTOGRAPHS .co m AA29_pp 1 V2.indd 1 06/12/2016 10:14 Your favourite magazine is also available digitally. DDOOWWNNLLOOAADD TTHHEE AAPPPP NNOOWW FFOORR FFRREEEE.. FREE APP In app issue £6.99 2 Months £5.99 Annual £29.99 SEARCH: Aviation Archive Read on your iPhone & iPad Android PPPCCC &&& MMMaaaccc Blackberry kindle fi re Windows 10 SEARCH SEARCH ALSO FLYPAST AEROPLANE FREE APP FREE APP AVAILABLE FOR IIIIINNNNN AAAAAPPPPPPPPPP IIIIISSSSSSSSSSUUUUUEEEEESSSSS £££££33333.....9999999999 IIIIINNNNN AAAAAPPPPPPPPPP IIIIISSSSSSSSSSUUUUUEEEEESSSSS £££££33333.....9999999999 DOWNLOAD How it Works. Simply download the Aviation Archive app. Once you have the app, you will be able to download new or back issues for less than newsstand price! Don’t forget to register for your Pocketmags account. This will protect your purchase in the event of a damaged or lost device. It will also allow you to view your purchases on multiple platforms. iTunes PC, Mac & Windows 10 Available on PC, Mac, Blackberry, Windows 10 and kindle fire from Requirements for app: registered iTunes account on Apple iPhone,iPad or iPod Touch. Internet connection required for initial download. Published by Key Publishing Ltd. The entire contents of these titles are © copyright 2016. All rights reserved. App prices subject to change. 1215/16 1215 Av Archive digi fp.indd 98 30/11/2016 10:32 INTRODUCTION 3 Rolls-Royce Merlin The legendary engine and its aircraft No other sound in aviation has the power to evoke such an This, then is the fascinating and intriguing story of the world’s most emotional response as that of the Rolls-Royce Merlin, without famous engine, told through the aircraft that it propelled to glory. The doubt the world’s greatest and most famous engine. Forever entries are listed under type (single-engine, multi-engine and transports) synonymous with the iconic Spitfire, the legendary Merlin was also and chronologically from the dates of their first flights. the beating heart behind such history-makers as the Hurricane, Lancaster, Mosquito and Mustang, to name but a few. Quite simply, AVIATION ARCHIVE SERIES without Sir Henry Royce’s masterpiece, the RAF would not have had ‘Rolls-Royce Merlin’ is No 29 in the Aviation Archive series. As ever the the power to take on the might of the Luftwaffe during World War 2. series features unparalleled photographic coverage, including many Like the Spitfire, the strength of the Merlin lay in its ability to evolve and exclusive and rare shots that have never been published before. The adapt, meaning that it was still in production in 1951 with over 168,000 words and photographs are complemented by ‘period’ cutaways from having been produced to power over 40 aircraft types, from fighters to the talented pens of the ‘Flight’ and ‘Aeroplane’ artists of the era, together bombers, transports to trainers... and even a helicopter. with aircraft profiles from the archives of Pete West. Aviation Archive Series Rolls-Royce Merlin: The legendary engine and its aircraft • Editor: Allan Burney • Design: Key Studio • Publisher and Managing Director: Adrian Cox • Executive Chairman: Richard Cox • Commercial Director: Ann Saundry • Group Editor: Nigel Price • Distribution: Seymour Distribution Ltd +44 (0)20 7429 4000 • Printing: Warners (Midlands) PLC, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH. All rights reserved. The entire content of Aviation Archive is © Key Publishing 2016. Reproduction in whole or in part and in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited without the prior permission of the Publisher. We are unable to guarantee the bona fides of any of our advertisers. Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before parting with any information or item of value, including, but not limited to, money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response to any advertisements within this publication. Published by Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs PE19 1XQ. Tel: +44 (0) 1780 755131. Fax: +44 (0) 1780 757261. Website: www.keypublishing.com ISBN: 9781910415788 • AA29_pp 3.indd 3 29/11/2016 18:12 • AA29_pp 4-5.indd 4 22/11/2016 17:24 CONTENTS 5 Rolls-Royce Merlin The legendary engine and its aircraft MULTI-ENGINE 50 ARMSTRONG WHITWORTH WHITLEY The case of an aircraft re-invented by the Merlin 52 HANDLEY PAGE HALIFAX The first four-engined heavy to be fitted with Rolls-Royce engines 56 DE HAVILLAND MOSQUITO The lightning fast ‘wooden wonder’, a true multi-role aircraft 61 AVRO LANCASTER Engine and aircraft in perfect harmony, a combination that helped change the course of the war HISTORY 68 AVRO LINCOLN The last Merlin-powered heavy bomber 6 THE LEGEND OF MERLIN 70 DE HAVILLAND HORNET The story of the world’s greatest aircraft engine The Merlin’s ultimate speedster 72 SHORT STURGEON SINGLE-ENGINE A rather inglorious end to service life 16 HAWKER HURRICANE The story begins with Hawker’s classic fighter TRANSPORT 21 SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE 74 AVRO LANCASTRIAN The legends of the Spitfire and the Merlin are simply inseparable The Merlin and Lancaster turn civil 28 FAIREY BATTLE 76 AVRO YORK A case of the wrong aircraft at the wrong time A reliable transport in war and peace 32 BOULTON PAUL DEFIANT 81 AVRO TUDOR A flawed concept, reinvented as a night fighter Britain’s first pressurised airliner was unloved and unwanted 36 FAIREY FULMAR 86 CANADAIR NORTH STAR The Royal Navy’s first dedicated monoplane fighter was sturdy AKA the Argonaut, a DC-4 hybrid with Merlins rather than agile 41 FAIREY BARRACUDA OTHERS A purposeful rather than aesthetic torpedo- and dive-bomber 46 NORTH AMERICAN P-51 MUSTANG 90 MINOR TYPES The Merlin made a good aircraft great Other aircraft that were fitted with Merlin engines AA29_pp 4-5.indd 5 25/11/2016 07:59 6 THE LEGEND OF MERLIN The legend of Merlin Above: Two pioneers that changed the course of history, Reginald Mitchell (left) and Henry Royce. Sadly neither was to live to witness the true success of their endeavours. Above right: Where it all began, with the Rolls-Royce ‘R’ engine that propelled the Supermarine S6B racing seaplanes. were already afoot to increase this output to 1,000hp (746kW). With the death of Royce on 22 April 1933, the engineer was not to see his PV12 begin test runs, let alone the startling success that it would eventually yield. On the day that Sir Frederick Henry Royce died, the final drawing for the PV12 was completed in the company’s design office. Six months after Royce’s death, a first test run of an initial PV12 engine took place on 15 October 1933. At first, however, the new engine proved troublesome and it was probably only a degree of luck that saved it from being abandoned altogether. Among other failings, the PV12’s reduction gear required replacement and the monobloc The path to creating the with a ‘monobloc’ casting for casting was prone to cracking. Nevertheless, in Merlin – the most prolific each bank of six cylinders. The July 1934 an example completed a successful Rolls-Royce engine in history – can Kestrel proved to be such a success that test, developing 790hp (589kW) at 2,500rpm. be traced back to 1931 and the Schneider its production even outstripped that of the In April 1935 the engine was test-flown in a Trophy that was held at Calshot. The Rolls- World War 1-era Eagle (4,750 compared to Hawker Hart. Royce ‘R’ engine propelled the Supermarine 4,674 engines built), and it also set a precedent Meanwhile, two British fighter prototypes S6B racing seaplanes to victory and a for continued refinements throughout its would be designed around the Rolls-Royce new world air speed record. Despite these career, adding full supercharge, automatic engine: the Hawker Hurricane and achievements, the Air Ministry was, at the boost control, 87-octane fuel and other Supermarine Spitfire. By spring 1935 the time, unwilling to fund development of a improvements. Among the many and varied new engine had finally gained Air Ministry new production engine based on the ‘R’. aircraft powered by the Kestrel were the support and as a result it was named Merlin, Instead, Rolls-Royce decided to go it alone, Hawker Demon, Fury, Hart and Hind, and the continuing the tradition of naming Rolls-Royce approving a private venture initiative in Short Singapore flying-boat. aero engines after birds of prey. The first of December 1932. As conceived by Sir Henry The result of Royce’s new project was the the Merlins proper was the Merlin B, which Royce, the new aero engine would combine PV12 of early 1933, the designation signifying introduced changes including ramp-type the reliability of his earlier Kestrel design with that the new engine was a private venture, with detachable heads with twin inlet valves at 45 the power of the ‘R’ engine that had won the the now classic V-12 arrangement. Generally degrees, but which continued to suffer from Schneider Trophy. conventional, this 27-litre liquid-cooled cracking of the cylinder blocks. The definitive Kestrel had appeared in 1930 engine featured a single-stage supercharger. It was intended that the 890hp (663kW) and set the standard of a Rolls-Royce V-12 While initially rated at 750hp (559kW), plans Merlin C should power both the Hurricane AA29_pp 6-15.indd 6 06/12/2016 09:16 and Supermarine. The ‘C’ fi nally dealt with the by the fact that Rolls-Royce provided funds 50-hour civil test accomplished in December cracking problem by replacing the monobloc of £7,500 towards construction of the initial 1935. The ‘C’ was succeeded by the Merlin F, casting with separate cylinder blocks. Despite Spitfi re prototype – half the total required. which was the fi rst of the line to be approved the limited performance of the ‘C’, the engine In the end, failure of the Merlin C in a 955hp for production, as the Merlin I. In this form, was suffi cient to demonstrate the potential (712kW) type-test in May 1935 put an end it provided the power for the Hurricane and of both aircraft, and their importance to the to this variant, although a glimpse of future the Fairey Battle, and production extended to engine-maker’s fortunes was demonstrated potential had been provided by a successful around 180 examples. Rolls-Royce aero engine origins Today, the Rolls-Royce name is fi rmly associated with aircraft engines, the British manufacturer’s current product line ranging from the Trent 1000 that powers the Boeing 787, to the lightweight Merlin production totals RR300 used in the Robinson R66 light helicopter. Derby Crewe Glasgow Ford Packard Frederick Henry Royce initially established himself as a manufacturer of electrical and 2,377 26,065 23,647 30,428 55,523 mechanical components in 1884. His fi rm produced its fi rst automobile in 1904 and in the same year Royce met Charles Rolls, an established car dealer. Between them it was decided that Royce Limited would produce cars that would be sold exclusively by C. S. Rolls & Co, under the Rolls- Royce brand. The story of Rolls-Royce aero engines begins with World War 1, the outbreak of which found the Derby-based company, under chief engineer Royce, as a leading manufacturer of luxury automobiles. Concerned that banks might begin to refuse wartime credit for such an expensive consumer product, the company board elected to downsize and prepare to refuse any government request to switch to aero engine production. However, this decision was swiftly reversed after the Royal Aircraft Factory convinced the company to tender to build a batch of Renault aero engines. After the board agreed to the move, Royce led the company in its new direction, despite deteriorating health that forced him to move to the south coast. Royce’s ailing health was certainly worsened by the long hours that he worked, and his stubborn refusal to eat proper meals. The fi rst aero engines to leave the Rolls-Royce factory were 50 examples of the Renault design, urgently required to power Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 light bombers. After examining the French design, Royce decided to begin work on his own aero engine, a water-cooled V-12 that would draw inspiration from the company’s existing car engines and the German six-cylinder Daimler DF80 aero engine. This would become the Eagle. Within just four weeks of the outbreak of World War 1, the board agreed to build two experimental V-engines at a cost of about £1,500 each. With the banks now behind it, the company rebuilt its workforce and by October 1914 the company was also developing two smaller derivative engines, the Falcon and the Hawk. By early 1915 the company had received orders for the Eagle, to power the Handley Page O/100 bomber. By the end of the war, Rolls-Royce completed around 2,000 Eagle engines. The The Rolls-Royce Eagle powered the Vickers Eagle also powered the Vickers Vimy, the aircraft in which John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown Vimy of World War 1 fame. This aircraft was completed the fi rst non-stop transatlantic fl ight in June 1919 and which would fi rmly cement taking part in an air race to Australia in 1919, the company’s reputation as a builder of aero engines. and won. • AA29_pp 6-15.indd 7 05/12/2016 11:45 8 THE LEGEND OF MERLIN The magic begins MERLIN II The initial Merlin I version was not the most Cutaway diagram of a Merlin II as fitted to Spitfires and Hurricanes at the start of World War 2. auspicious debut for the new engine. Very soon, it was apparent that the ramp-head potential was not being achieved. After major changes were incorporated in the cylinder head design, the Merlin G emerged, now with an output of 1,030hp (768kW) at 3,000rpm. Compared to earlier versions, the Merlin G’s flat head was cast integral with the block, with the four valves in parallel. The ‘G’ would enter production as the Merlin II early in 1937. The changes heralded in the Merlin II required a major redesign of the nose of the Hurricane, as well as the fighter’s engine controls, but this was considered a small price to pay for the promised improvement in performance. Similar changes also had to be made to the Battle light bomber. It was also in 1937 that Rolls-Royce engineer Ernest Hives, a former chief test driver and now head of the company’s experimental division, developed a ‘racing’ version of the Merlin. Thanks to high-octane fuel, the racing Merlin could develop 2,160hp (1,611kW) for short periods, and was capable of running at 1,800hp (1,342kW) for a full 15 hours. The performance of this engine suggested that the Merlin would finally be able to match the larger powerplants then being developed for Germany’s fighters. At the outbreak of World War 2 in September 1939, the Merlin II powered all Spitfires and Hurricanes in Royal Air Force service, while the Merlin III arrived in time for the Battle of Britain in 1940. During the battle, the fighters’ Merlin Right and below: The Rolls-Royce experimental department at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, testing 12-cylinder engines in 1938. engines were powered, where possible, by 100-octane fuel, bulk quantities of which had first arrived in the UK in June 1939. The key to the success of the Merlin design was its capacity for continued development. Throughout the war, Rolls-Royce engineers continued to eke more and more power out of the engine, including through the introduction of improved superchargers and the use of high-octane fuels. A ‘bomber’ version of the engine appeared in the form of the Merlin X, which powered the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Handley Page Halifax. This version featured a two- stage supercharger and its introduction in 1938 coincided with the arrival at the firm of Stanley ‘Doc’ Hooker, whose legacy included a refinement of the supercharger to yield even greater performance from the Merlin family. AA29_pp 6-15.indd 8 06/12/2016 09:16 THE LEGEND OF MERLIN 9 When faced by the German Messerschmitt Bf109 in the Battle of Britain, the RAF’s Merlin- powered Hurricane and Spitfire initially faced a major disadvantage against the Luftwaffe fighter. Since the early Merlins lacked the direct-injection of the German engines, the British fighters were unable to sustain sudden negative-g in combat: the engine would be starved of fuel and suffer a loss of power. As a result, the pilot of a Hurricane or Spitfire faced the possibility of being unable to follow a Bf109 into a dive. Beatrice ‘Tilly’ Shilling at the Royal Aircraft Establishment was able to provide a simple solution. ‘Miss Shilling’s orifice’ added a metal diaphragm with a small, calibrated hole Right: A Merlin engine, with its distinctive ‘fishtail’ exhaust stubs, is fitted into a Hurricane airframe at a Hawker factory during final assembly. • AA29_pp 6-15.indd 9 05/12/2016 11:45 10 THE LEGEND OF MERLIN inside the carburettor’s float chamber. This war-winning fighter. Ultimately, Packard would ensured the engine would keep running even produce a total of over 55,000 examples of the under negative-g conditions. Merlin under the V-1650 designation. At first, it With Hooker’s work on superchargers had been planned for the American Merlin to continuing, Rolls-Royce was able to introduce be manufactured by Ford at Dearborn, the Merlin XX for the Hurricane and the Michigan, but this was switched to the Merlin 45 for the Spitfire, as well as related Packard Motor Corporation. After a batch engines to power different families of bombers. of development V-1650s was produced by Among the latter was the Avro Manchester, Continental, in August 1941 Packard ran a which was converted to become the Lancaster first example of its Merlin, totally redrawn and once it had been fitted with complete Merlin adapted for American production. In addition ‘power eggs’ originally developed for the Bristol to US output, the demand for Merlin engines Beaufighter II. With a readymade powerplant during the war saw additional UK production available, the Lancaster became the most facilities established at Crewe and Glasgow, important RAF heavy bomber of the war. and Ford Motors in Manchester also produced Of the first generation of supercharged engines under sub-contract. Merlins, Hooker subsequently recalled: ‘The work Despite the arrival of the larger, more I had done on the supercharger and its air intake powerful Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, the Merlin’s appeared on production in 1940 in the form of continued success was ensured by the variety the Merlin 45 for the Spitfire and the Merlin XX of its applications, including the Lancaster for the Hurricane, Mosquito and Lancaster. The and de Havilland Mosquito. By the end of the effect was to increase the full-throttle altitude war, versions of the Merlin were producing of the engine from 16,000ft (4,877m) with the 2,780hp (2,073kW) thanks to the use of fuel Merlin III to over 19,000ft (5,791m) with the with monomethyl aniline additives. As well as Merlin 45. For me, the impossible had come a range of fixed-wing aircraft, the adaptable to pass. I had changed a Rolls-Royce engine Merlin also found use as the powerplant of one designed by the great Henry Royce himself.’ of the United Kingdom’s first helicopters: the Midway through 1940 the need for a high- impressive Cierva Air Horse was an evolutionary altitude addition to the Merlin family had been dead-end, but made it into the air in December recognised. Such an engine was needed to 1948 on the power of a 1,620hp (1,208kW) power the Vickers Wellington VI, and the solution Merlin driving three equal rotors; left and right was initially seen as being a turbocharged rotors at the back and one above the nose. At version of the Merlin. The work was charged to the time of its appearance it was the largest Hooker, who instead developed a two-stage helicopter ever built. supercharger, including an intercooler, with the In an ironic turn of events, one of the final initial ‘blower’ being derived from that used in applications for the Merlin was the Hispano the Rolls-Royce Vulture. Aviación HA-1112, a post-war Spanish fighter ‘I argued that, to obtain the necessary power, that was essentially a licence-built version of all we had to do was raise the full-throttle the Bf109, the wartime foe of the Hurricane and power of the Merlin from 16,000 to 30,000ft Spitfire. After a batch of aircraft powered by (4,877 to 9,144m)’, Hooker remembered. ‘To do Hispano-Suiza engines proved to be inadequate this we needed two superchargers in series at for front-line service, these were re-engined with the back of the engine, driven by the same Merlin 500-45s ordered from the UK as surplus gears that existed on the standard Merlin.’ in 1953. The first of these ‘Merlin Messerschmitts’ The supercharged Merlin emerged as entered service in 1956, and a total of 173 were the Merlin 60 series, which provided twice produced, finally being retired in late 1965. the power at high altitudes, as Hooker had Quite apart from military applications, the promised. Once incorporated in the Spitfire, Merlin saw success within the civil aviation the fighter was now able to boast a 10,000ft industry. Immediately after the end of the war, (3,048m) improvement in ceiling and a 70mph the Merlin provided the powerplant for the (113km/h) increase in maximum speed. Avro Lancastrian and York transports and the By 1942 the RAF’s Spitfire IX was thus Canadian-built DC-4M Argonaut, examples powered by the Merlin 61, fitted with the two- of which also supported the Berlin Airlift that speed, two-stage supercharger and developing began in 1948. 1,280hp (954kW). Such was the degree of Production continued until 1951, by which improvement in terms of performance that time a total of 168,040 Merlin engines had the Merlin was now adopted for the North been made, including Packard versions in the American P-51 Mustang, to create another United States. Thomas Newdick AA29_pp 6-15.indd 10 06/12/2016 09:16

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.