Rolls-Royce: The Merlin at War

202 Pages·1978·19.95 MB·English

by  Ian Lloyd (auth.)

ROLLS-ROYCE
THE MERLIN AT WAR
By the same author
ROLLS-ROYCE: THE GROWTH OF A FIRM
ROLLS-ROYCE: THE YEARS OF ENDEAVOUR
Lord Hives, C.H.
ROLLS-ROYCE
THE MERLIN AT WAR
IAN LLOYD
ISBN 978-1-349-03910-4 ISBN 978-1-349-03908-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-03908-1
© Ian Lloyd 1978
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1978 978-0-333-24016-8
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1978 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in Delhi
Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos
Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Lloyd, Ian
Rolls-Royce, the Merlin at war.
1. Rolls-Royce-History
2. Airplanes, Military Motors-History
3. Aircraft industry-& Great Britain
I. Title
338.7'62'3746 HD9711.G74R/
ISBN 978-0-333-24016-8
To the memory of
ERNEST HIVES
Mechanic
Companion of Honour
Doctor of Science
Peer of the Realm
Defender of Freedom
Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xvi
1 STA LEMA TE IN EUROPE 1
2 NO MERLINS FOR FRANCE 11
3 THE PACKARD MERLIN 20
4 BEAVERBROOK RAISES THE VOLTAGE 35
5 CONTRARY TO OFFICIAL RECOMMENDATIONS 57
6 HIVES DEFENDS THE MERLIN 72
7 THE 'METEOR' TANK-ENGINE PROJECT 84
8 THE YEARS OF VICTORY, 1942-1945 116
9 CO-OPERATION WITH WHITTLE 126
10 PREPARING FOR PEACE 134
11 REFLECTIONS ON THE ROLLS-ROYCE EXPERIENCE 143
Notes 167
Index 177
List of Illustrations
Frontispiece. Lord Hives, C.H.
1. The Rolls-Royce V-12 cylinder Merlin Mark 61 4
2. The Rolls-Royce X-24 cylinder vulture 8
3. Lord Beaverbrook 36
4. The Hawker Siddeley Hurricane Mark I 39
5. Sir Arthur Sidgreaves 43
6. The Rolls-Royce Prototype 40mm Cannon 59
7. A Hurricane fitted with Rolls-Royce 40mm
cannon 66
8. The Merlin-engined Wellington 68
9. The Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mark VB 73
10. The last wartime Spitfire Mark 21 75
11. The Rolls-Royce Meteor tank engine 89
12. W. A. Robotham 91
13. A Cromwell tank being inspected by Winston
Churchill 108
14. The A vro Lancaster Bomber 117
15. The Rolls-Royce V-12 cylinder Griffon 119
xii List of Illustrations
16. The North American P51D Mustang with Packard
Merlin 121
17. The de Havilland Mosquito Mk. IV 124
18. The Battle of Britain memorial window 141