The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litre capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later called Merlin following the company convention of naming its four-stroke piston aero engines after birds of prey.
The BMW 801 was a powerful German 41.8-litre (2,550 cu in) air-cooled 14-cylinder-radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II. Production versions of the twin-row engine generated between 1,560 and 2,000 PS. It was the most produced radial engine of Germany in World War II with more than 61,000 built.
The Junkers Ju 188 "Rächer" (avenger) was a German Luftwaffe high-performance medium bomber built during World War II, the planned follow-up to the Ju 88 with better performance and payload. It was produced only in limited numbers, due both to the presence of improved versions of the Ju 88, as well as the increasingly effective Allied strategic bombing campaign against German industry and the resulting focus on fighter production.
The Avro 679 Manchester was a British twin-engine heavy bomber developed and manufactured by the Avro aircraft company in the United Kingdom. While not being built in great numbers, it was the forerunner of the famed and vastly more successful four-engined Avro Lancaster, which was one of the most capable strategic bombers of the Second World War.
The Heinkel He 177 Greif (Griffin) was a long-range heavy bomber flown by the Luftwaffe during World War II. The introduction of the He 177 to combat operations was significantly delayed, by both problems with the development of its engines and frequent changes to its intended role. Nevertheless, it was the only long-range, heavy bomber to become operational with the Luftwaffe during the war. The He 177 had a payload/range capability similar to that of four-engined heavy bombers used by the Allies in the European theatre.
The Heinkel He 277 was a four-engine, long-range heavy bomber design, originating as a derivative of the He 177, intended for production and use by the German Luftwaffe during World War II. The main difference was in its engines. While the He 177 used four engines in two coupled pairs which proved troublesome, the He 277 was intended to use four unitized BMW 801E 14-cylinder radial engines, in single nacelle installations.
The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German Luftwaffe during World War II as a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the Fliegender Bleistift. Designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bomber but not meant to be capable of the longer-range missions envisioned for the larger Heinkel He 177, the Do 217's design was refined during 1939 and production began in late 1940. It entered service in early 1941 and by the beginning of 1942 was available in significant numbers.
The Junkers Ju 90 was a 40-seat, four-engine airliner developed for and used by Deutsche Luft Hansa shortly before World War II. It was based on the rejected Ju 89 bomber. During the war, the Luftwaffe pressed them into service as military transports.
The Bristol Type 188 is a supersonic research aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was nicknamed the Flaming Pencil in reference to its length and relatively slender cross-section as well as its intended purpose.
Bomber B was a German military aircraft design competition organised just before the start of World War II intended to develop a second-generation high-speed bomber for the Luftwaffe. The new designs would be a direct successor to the Schnellbomber philosophy of the Dornier Do 17 and Junkers Ju 88, relying on high speed as its primary defence. Bomber B would be a much larger and more capable aircraft, with range and payload far greater than the Schnellbomber, surpassing the largest conventional designs then under consideration. The winning design was intended to form the backbone of the Luftwaffe's bomber force, replacing the wide collection of semi-specialized designs then in service. The Reich Air Ministry was so optimistic that more modest projects were generally cancelled; when the project failed the Luftwaffe was left with hopelessly outdated aircraft.
The British Supermarine Spitfire was facing several challenges by mid-1942. The debut of the formidable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in late 1941 had caused problems for RAF fighter squadrons flying the latest Spitfire Mk Vb. Rolls-Royce engineers were already working on a new version of the Merlin incorporating a two-stage supercharger; the combination of the improved Merlin and the Spitfire Mk Vc airframe in a "stop-gap" design allowed the RAF to combat the Fw 190 on equal terms.
The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a British 37-litre capacity, 60-degree V-12, liquid-cooled aero engine designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited. In keeping with company convention, the Griffon was named after a bird of prey, in this case the griffon vulture.
The Hawker Tornado was a British single-seat fighter aircraft design of the Second World War for the Royal Air Force as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane. The planned production of Tornados was cancelled after the engine it was designed to use, the Rolls-Royce Vulture, proved unreliable in service. A parallel airframe that used the Napier Sabre engine continued into production as the Hawker Typhoon.
The Rolls-Royce R is a British aero engine that was designed and built specifically for air racing purposes by Rolls-Royce Limited. Nineteen R engines were assembled in a limited production run between 1929 and 1931. Developed from the Rolls-Royce Buzzard, it was a 37-litre capacity, supercharged V-12 capable of producing just under 2,800 horsepower (2,090 kW), and weighed 1,640 pounds (770 kg). Intensive factory testing revealed mechanical failures which were remedied by redesigning the components, greatly improving reliability.
The Avro 706 Ashton was a British prototype jet airliner made by Avro during the 1950s. Although it flew nearly a year after the de Havilland Comet, it represented an experimental programme and was never intended for commercial use.
The Avro Type 688 Tudor was a British piston-engined airliner based on Avro's four-engine Lincoln bomber, itself a descendant of the famous Lancaster heavy bomber, and was Britain's first pressurised airliner. Customers saw the aircraft as little more than a pressurised DC-4, and few orders were forthcoming, important customers preferring to buy US aircraft. The tailwheel undercarriage layout was also dated and a disadvantage.
The Junkers Ju 252 was a German cargo aircraft that made its first flight in late October 1941. The aircraft was planned as a replacement for the Junkers Ju 52/3m in commercial airline service, but only a small number were built as cargo aircraft for the Luftwaffe.
The Junkers Ju 488 was a proposed four-engined German heavy strategic bomber under development in World War II. It was based on the twin-engined Ju 188 series but with additional engines mounted on a new wing inner section. One prototype was begun but never finished.
The North American Mustang X, also known as the "Rolls-Royce Mustang") was an experimental variant of the North American Mustang I, an aircraft funded the British Purchasing Commission and designed and developed By North American Aviation in 1940. It is distinct from the Merlin-powered P-51B/C that later followed. The development proceeded incorporating a Rolls-Royce Merlin 65 medium-high altitude engine along with numerous modifications, in an experimental programme undertaken by the Rolls-Royce company in 1942.
The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruising speed of 325 mph (523 km/h) compared with the 246 mph (396 km/h) of the standard DC-4. Requested by TCA in 1944, the prototype flew on 15 July 1946. The type was used by various airlines and by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). It proved to be reliable but noisy when in service through the 1950s and into the 1960s. Some examples continued to fly into the 1970s, converted to cargo aircraft.
