Brief history of the Rolls-Royce GRIFFON courtesy of Rolls-Royce Heritage.
The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a 36.7 litre, V-12 piston engine with 2 stage (later 3 stage) super charging and is rated at 2,445 hp. It was designed in the 1940`s as a replacement for the MERLIN engine which was made famous with the Spitfire but used in many other aircraft.
In 1938 a need
was foreseen for a powerful engine for naval aircraft, this engine, Type 37
became the Griffon. It was a Merlin styled engine, with the capacity of the
Buzzard and R, namely 6 inch bore and 6.6 inch stroke, giving a capacity of
2,239 cu in or 36.7 litres.
The layout remained the same as other engine, 12 cylinders in a vee formation.
The first Griffon however dated from late 1934.
Griffon II developed in 1937 and fitted to the Fairey Firefly (rated @ 1720hp
for take-off).
MkIIB developed in 1938.
Griffon XII - Fairey Firefly (Rated at 1815hp)
Griffon III - Supermarine Spitfire VC
Griffon VI - Spitfire XII (Rated at 1815hp with 15lb boost) - Seafire XV,
XVII
Griffon 65 - Spitfire XIV (Rated @ 2035hp at 7000ft)
Griffon 66 - Spitfire PR XIX
Griffon 72 & 74 - Fairey Firefly (Rated @ 2245hp at 9250ft)
Griffon 83 to 88 - Sptifire/Seafire (Rated @ 2340hp at low level)
Griffon 58 - Avro Shackleton (Rated at 2455hp, with contra-rotating propellors)
The last Griffon 58 to be delivered was for a South African Airforce Avro
Shackleton in December 1955.
The version on display is a Griffon 58 with drive for contra-rotating props.
It was fitted to a Shackleton maritime reconnaissance / anti-submarine aircraft.
Brief history of the Rolls-Royce AVON courtesy of Rolls-Royce Heritage.
The Rolls-Royce AVON series was developed in the late 1940`s - early 1950`s
as a replacement for the NENE and entered production as the first Rolls Royce
axial flow turbo jet. The AVON (in several varients) was fitted to the Hawker
Hunter (x 1), English Electric (BAC) Canberra (x 2), Supermarine Swift (x
1), Supermarine Scimitar (x 1), Vickers Valiant (x 4), deHavilland Sea Vixen
(x 2).
Designed originally
to meet a speceification for a 6,500lbs engine, the Avon was given the ID
of AJ 65 (Axial Jet 65 hundred pounds). Designed as a single shaft turbojet,
eventually to go into service with and without reheat. The reheat system used
a simple two-position eyelet nozzle.
The first engine to went into service in 1950, it was a RA.3 Avon Mk 101 fitted
in a Canberra B.2.
Other engines were fitted as follows:
RA-3 Avon Mk 109 / RA.3 - Canberra B.6, Avon Mk 104 & Mk 107 - Hawker
Hunter, Avon Mk 105 - Supermarine Swift.
Svenska Flygmotor made engines under license as the RM5.
RA.7 Mk26 - Sabre, Mk502 - Comet 2 (Thrust - 6,500lbs), Mk117 - Comet C.2
(Thrust - 7,350lbs).
RA.14 Mk201 - Vickers Valiant (Thrust - ~9,500lbs).
RA.26 - Comet 3 (Thrust ~10,000lbs), Caravelle, Avon 203 - Hawker Hunter F.6.
RA.14R - Fairey Delta FD.2.
RA.28 - Fairey Delta FD.2, Vickers Valiant, Canberra PR.9, Sea Vixen.
RA.24R Mk 210 - Lightning F1 (Thrust 11,250lbs dry - 14,430 with Reheat),
Mk 48 - J32B Lansen (Thrust 15190lbs with Reheat), SAAB Draken - (Built under
license by Svenska Flygmotor as the RM6B), Mk 202 - Scimiter.
RA.29 Mk 524 - Comet 4 (Thrust 10,250lbs).
RA.29/3 Mk 527 - Caravelle III (Thrust 11,400lbs).
RA.29/6 Mk 533R - Caravelle VI (Thrust 12,200lbs). Mk 535R - Caravelle VI
(Thrust 12,600lbs), Mk 301 & Mk 302 - Lightnig (Thrust 12,690lbs dry -
16,360lbs with Reheat)
Svenska Flygmotor RM6C - SAAB Draken (Thrust 17,110lbs)
The Avon is still in operational service with the RAF, in the Canberra PR.9.
Brief history of the Rolls-Royce ORPHEUS courtesy of Rolls-Royce Heritage.
The
Orpheus was a single spool, axial flow turbo jet developed from 1953 as a
purely company-financed (Bristol) venture.
The first engine ran at 3,000lbs on 17 December 1954 and was type tested to
3,285lb the following year, first flying in the prototype Folland Gnat on
18 July.
Engines were fitted
to the following aircraft:
Orpheus Mk 701 - Folland Gnat (Thrust 4,250lbs) - Jet-Pak booster pods for
Indian C-119s
Orpheus Mk 703 - Hindustan HF.24 Marut and Ajeet (Derived from the Gnat)
Orpheus Mk 803 - Fiat G91 (Thrust ~ 5,000lbs)
Orpheus Mk 805 - Fuji T1/F2 trainer (Thrust ~ 4,000lbs)
Orpheus Mk 101 - Folland Gnat T.1 Thrust initially 4,230lbs, later 4,520lbs)
Orpheus Bor.12 - Development engine (Thrust 6,810lbs dry - 8,170lbs with reheat)
Brief history of the Rolls-Royce NENE courtesy of Rolls-Royce Heritage.
The
Rolls-Royce Nene is typical in styling of all the early types of British,
Whittle pattern jets developed from the 1940`s onwards and first ran on 27th
October 1944. The Nene has a double entry, single stage centrifugal compressor
driven by a single stage axial flow turbine. Combustion chambers are external.
This engine, from a Jet Provost T4, has had sections cut away to show the
inside. A button on the display board activates an electric motor which makes
all the working parts move.