Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Depending on the supercharger fitted, engines were rated as low altitude (e.g.; Merlin 66, Griffon III), where the engine produced its maximum power below about 10,000 feet (3,000 m), medium altitude (Merlin 45), where the engine produced its maximum power up to about 20,000 feet (6,100 m), and high altitude (Merlin 70), where the engine produced its maximum power above about 25,000 feet ...
The Rolls-Royce Griffon engine was designed in answer to Royal Navy specifications for an engine capable of generating good power at low altitudes. Concepts for adapting the Spitfire to take the new engine had begun as far back as October 1939; Joseph Smith felt that "The good big 'un will eventually beat the good little 'un."
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.
Supermarine Spitfire variants powered by early model Rolls-Royce Merlin engines mostly utilised single-speed, single-stage superchargers. The British Supermarine Spitfire was the only Allied fighter aircraft of the Second World War to fight in front line service from the beginnings of the conflict, in September 1939, through to the end in ...
The Spitfire's performance improved greatly as WWII progressed; for more information, see Supermarine Spitfire variants: specifications, performance and armament. Data from Spitfire: The History and Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. [207] [208] General characteristics. Crew: 1; Length: 29 ft 11 in (9.12 m) Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
First of specialised engines for Spitfire Mk V variants and early Seafires. Merlin 45M 1,230 hp (917 kW) at 3,000 rpm 1,585 hp (1,182 kW) at 3,000 rpm, +18 psi (124 kPa) boost, 2,750 ft (838 m) Spitfire LF Mk.V: Version of Merlin 45 with "cropped" (smaller diameter) supercharger impeller allowing greater boost at low altitudes. Merlin 46
A Griffon installed on WH632, an airworthy Fairey Firefly at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (2014) . Compared with earlier Rolls-Royce designs, the Griffon engine featured several improvements, which meant that it was physically only slightly larger than the Merlin, in spite of its 36% larger capacity of 37-litres (2,240 cu in).
The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine originally came with a direct carburettor, prone to cut-out due to fuel flooding in negative G. Miss Shilling's orifice was a very simple technical device created to counter engine cut-outs experienced during negative G manoeuvres in early Spitfire and Hurricane fighter aeroplanes during the Battle of Britain.