Spitfires were powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, and later Rolls-Royce Griffon engines. Just like the aeroplanes in which they were fitted, engines were constantly tuned and developed throughout the war.
The Rolls-Royce Merlin Engine powered some of the most famous aeroplanes of World War II, including the Spitfire, the Hurricane, the Mosquito, the Mustang and the Lancaster. The Merlin was also used in aeroplanes like the Fairey Battle and the Boulton Paul Defiant.
Designed around a 1,000-horsepower, 12-cylinder, liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce PV-12 engine (later dubbed the Merlin), the Spitfire first flew in March 1935. It had superb performance and flight characteristics, and deliveries to operational Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons commenced in the summer of 1938.
Revised Rolls-Royce unitised "Power Plant" installation design. Engine used in Bristol Beaufighter II, Boulton Paul Defiant II, Handley Page Halifax II and V, Hawker Hurricane II and IV, and Avro Lancaster I and III.
Many people know that the Supermarine Spitfire had a 27-litre Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. What they might not know, though was that later models of the Spitfire used a 37-litre Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. And almost no-one knows that the Griffon was first run nine months before the Merlin, back in 1933!
Because it would have been pointless, for three reasons: The Turbocharged Allison engine in the P-38 produced marginally higher power at altitude than the Merlin. Replacing them with Merlins would not have added any power. The P-38's limiting factor was not its engine(s).
However, the original Rolls Royce Merlin engine couldn't handle negative G force. The throttle valve would get flooded with fuel as the plane was pitched hard nose down. A tell-tale puff of black spoke would be seen. The engine would stall, just for a moment, but in the middle of a dog fight, this could be fatal.
In 1940, Ford Motor Co. initially committed to build 9,000 Merlin engines—6,000 for the British and 3,000 for the American armed forces—in mid-1940, over a year before the United States entered the conflict.
A float was used to control how much fuel entered the carburettor. This worked well when flying normally, but if the Spitfire attempted to perform a negative g-force manoeuvre, the float wouldn't operate properly. The result was loss of power or even the engine cutting out!
This revitalised push led to a series of engines under the name 'Griffon' (named after a breed of vulture) and their model, the 'Griffon 65' was the powerplant of choice for the Mk. XIV Spitfire. It was a whopping 37 litre twin-supercharged V-12 powerhouse that could produce some 2,050 HP!
It was the right blend of power and reliability. There were other turbo-supercharged engines which would produce comparable power at any altitude. But the Merlin was capable of reliably delivering its rated power for a long time.
Aircraft which were powered by the Merlin engine include the Lancaster, Spitfire, Halifax, Hurricane, Battle, Defiant, Whitley, Mosquito, Hornet, York, Lincoln and North American Mustang.
The 70 A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, which are assembled and tested in Derby, and are 25 per cent more efficient than similar models. Rolls-Royce chief Tufan Erginbilgic said: “Today's announcement marks an exciting and truly historic day for Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce powers more than 35 types of commercial aircraft and has over 13,000 engines in service around the world. Demand for our products remains robust and underpins strong performance.
Yes, there are several airlines that operate both Rolls-Royce and General Electric (GE) aircraft engines in their fleet. One example is British Airways, which has a mixed fleet of aircraft powered by both Rolls-Royce and GE engines.
The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce, one of the two engine options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, competing with the General Electric GEnx.
Why was the Merlin engine better than the Allison?
One of the significant differences between the Allison V-1710 and the Rolls-Royce Merlin was the Allison relied upon a GE turbocharger to maintain high power at altitude, while the Merlin used two speed (and eventually two stage) supercharging.
Of any two engines on display, there's just no beating the name recognition of the Rolls-Royce Merlin liquid-cooled V12 and the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. More iconic and memorable warplanes came equipped with these two engines than perhaps any other engine on earth.
The North American Mustang X, also known as the "Rolls-Royce Mustang") was a British variant of the US North American P-51 Mustang using a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine in an experimental programme undertaken by the Rolls-Royce company in 1942.
If you had to put a monetary value on the Rolls-Royce Merlin it cost £2,000 in 1940 which translates to about £110,000 today. If you had to buy a Merlin today, auctioneers Sotheby's sold one for £44,000 ($57,000) in 2019. The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine powered over 40 British aircraft, and even one German one!
The Merlin was designed and built by Rolls-Royce. These powerful and reliable engines were fitted to many Second World War aircraft including the Avro Lancaster, Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire. Over 150,000 Merlin engines were built. Other companies were licensed to build Merlins in order to meet demand.
Merlin series 100 - 140 engines were fitted with (by today's standards) a primitive single point injector directly into the supercharger. Some sources call this an injector carburetor.
