Armstrong Siddeley Snarler

Last updated

Snarler
Type Rocket engine
National originUnited Kingdom
Manufacturer Armstrong Siddeley
Major applications Hawker P.1072

The Armstrong Siddeley Snarler was a small rocket engine used for mixed-power experiments with an early turbojet engine. [1] [2] and was the first British liquid-fuelled rocket engine to fly. [3]

Contents

Design and development

Unlike other British rocket engine projects that used hydrogen peroxide as an oxidiser, Armstrong Siddeley's used liquid oxygen. The rocket engine is described as having a dry weight of 215 lbf (960 N) thrust of 2,000 lbf (8.9 kN) and a specific fuel consumption of 20 (lb/h)/lbf thrust. [3] Work began in 1947 and the final configuration was first tested on 29 March 1950. [3]

The prototype of the Hawker P.1040 Sea Hawk, VP 401, had a Snarler rocket of 2,000  lbf thrust added in its tail. The Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet, of 5,200  lbf thrust, had a split tailpipe which exhausted either side of the fuselage. The combination was termed the Hawker P.1072. [4] [5]

This gave approximately [6] 50% greater thrust, although with twenty times the fuel consumption. [3] It was first used in flight on 20 November 1950, by Hawker's test pilot Trevor "Wimpy" Wade. [4] Half a dozen flights were made using the rocket motor before a minor explosion damaged the aircraft. Although methanol was used in the P.1072, jet fuel could be used for the Snarler. It was decided that reheat was a more practical proposition for boosting jet thrust than rockets.

An unusual feature of the engine was that the fuel/oxidiser pump was externally driven, by a drive from the gearbox of the P.1072's turbojet engine. This feature continued into the first versions of the subsequent Screamer engine, but was later replaced with a turbine-driven turbopump. [7]

Variants

ASSn.1 Snarler
The prototype and test engines, (Ministry of Supply designation ASSn.).

Applications

Specifications

Data fromAircraft engines of the World 1953, [8] Flight:6 August 1954:Armstrong Siddeley Snarler [9]

General characteristics

Components

Performance

See also

Related development

Related lists

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References

  1. S. Allen (7 December 1951). "Rockets for Aircraft Propulsion". The Aeroplane.
  2. "Snarler: Armstrong Siddeleys Oxygen Water-methanol Rocket Motor : Handling Liquid Oxygen". Flight : 92–93. 25 July 1952.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Aero engines 1954". Flight : 447–448. 6 August 1954.
  4. 1 2 "Armstrong Siddeley Snarler". Flight : 92–93. 25 July 1952.
  5. "The Quest for Power..." Flight : 444. 6 August 1954. Transferring liquid oxygen from a B.O.C. spherical tanker to the Hawker P.1072 in which the Sn rocket was tested. The gas is exhausting through the lower vents and rapidly evaporating.
  6. Although the Nene's thrust, as for any turbojet, fell with increasing altitude the Snarler's remained constant.
  7. "Armstrong Siddeley Screamer". Flight : 160–164. 27 July 1956.
  8. Wilkinson, Paul H. (1953). Aircraft engines of the World 1953 (11th ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd.
  9. "Armstrong Siddeley Snarler:THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PUMP-FED LIQUID-FUEL AIRCRAFT ROCKET". Flight. 66 (2376): 176–180. 6 August 1954. Retrieved 7 January 2019.