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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 0981.PDF
APRIL 15. *937 FLIGHT a HIGH-RATED RADIALS The A! vis Engine Range Introduced : Power Outputs of 680-1,500 h.p. : The bourteen-cylinder', Two- rczc Pelides Described in Detail THERE is not a single country which, figura tively speaking, would not give its right hand to hold the aero engine resources of Great Britain. During the last ten years, according to their spec;al needs, countries have tended to develop a few particular types of engine in the high-power class, each becoming an expert on those varieties—in fact, "learning more and more about less and less." In this country we are fortunate in having most types well represented in the 500 to 1,000 h.p. classes—the air-cooled single- and two-row radials with normal and sleeve valves, the liquid-cooled vee class and air-cooled engines of "V" and "H" formation. With the introgression of the Alvis range we now supplement this wealth with the fruits of mental labour of some of the cleverest Continental designers, coupled with first-class workmanship from one of the most modern works and test departments in this country. Doubled Outputs In the last few months several prominent members of the aircraft industry have indicated that, shortly, outputs of 1,000, 1,500 and even 2,000 h.p. will be needed, whereas the present figures are from 500 to 1,000 h.p. The Alvis Alcides (18 L) is an 18-cylinder double-bank radial engine to give a maximum output of 1,502 h.p. and a cruising or rated power of 1,300 h.p. at 2,150 r.p.m. The engine is moderately supercharged for a rated altitude of 5,000 ft. The Alvis Maeonides Major will be similar to the Gnome- Rhone 14M depicted below. A Pelides Major engine (right) to the same scale indicates the relatively small diameter of the fourteen-cylinder Maeonides The sturdy reduction gear is apparent in this side view of a Pelides Major engine, and the various accessories may easily be identified in profile (1,520 m.). For a 13,000-ft. rating it is produced in fully supercharged form—the Alcides Major. In many ways the Pelides and Pelides Major (Major indicates the fully supercharged version) are similar to the Alcides, but they have 14 cylinders in the two banks. The rated altitudes of moderately and fully supercharged forms are again 5,000 and 13,000 ft. respectively, while the rated power figure is 1,000 h.p. in each case. The latest engine to be added to the Alvis range, the Maeonides Major (14 M), is a small-diameter two-row fully supercharged radial following the latest Continental prac tices. With a diameter of just under 38 in. the unit has a rated power of 680 h.p. at 13,000 ft. This unit, for which drawings are now nearing completion, should be eminently suitable for light twin-engined fighters of the type seen for the first time at the Paris Show of 1936. The agreement to build these engines was made with the
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