FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0015.PDF
anJ AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED IOO9 Editor C M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Tmditur, Sedift, London. COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM. 2 : 8 ID CORPORATION ST GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, 8-10, CORPORATION 5T. NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry 52 10. Telephone: Midland 297 1 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.2 : 260. DEANSGATE. 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Blackfrlars 4412. Telephone : Central 4857. No. 1776- Vol. XLIII. c Registered at the C.P.O. as a Newspaper. January 7th, 1943. We Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling. Napier Electrification PURELY on sentimental grounds many may regretthe recent acquisition by the F%iglish Electric Co.,Ltd., of the ordinary shares of D. Napier and Son, Ltd., a transaction which was accepted by the holders of 80 per cent, of the Napier ordinary shares. When control of an old firm passes into new hands there follows the usual speculation and concern about the future. In this case it appears almost definitely that the asso- ciation of the two firms concerned will be of mutual benefit technically. The Napier company has had an unbroken record of association, first with the automo- bile industry, and afterwards with aircraft engine design and manufacture. From small beginnings the company has grown to impressive size, and its factory space has been expanding gradually as and when the demand dic- tated. Thus it shared with many others the disadvantage that factory layout could not be planned on such modern lines as those incorporated in works laid down at a more recent date. With the fusion of Napiers and English Electric, one may expect that the vast manufacturing resources of the latter will be made available for the large-scale production of Napier designs. The Napier- Halford Sabre engine has already been announced, and the enemy is well aware of its existence, so the new chairman of the company, Mr. G. H. Nelson, need hardly have been quite so reticent in his recent speech at the annual general meeting of the company, when he made no reference to the firm's present activities " for security reasons." The foundations of Napier fame, so far as aircraft engines are concerned, was laid with the Lion engine, a 12-cylinder W-type water-cooled, which began its career at the modest rating of some 450 h.p., but which was gradually developed to give a good deal more. Perhaps no better illustration of the success of the Lion could be given than by recalling that one year the profits of the company were in the neighbourhood of £250,000. That was in the days when orders for the aircraft industry were few and small, so that the figure was a good deal more impressive than it would be to-day. The Lion was produced while Mr. A. J. Rowledge was chief designer to the firm, and Mr. H. T. Vane was managing director. Even the Lion engine, good as it was, could not last for ever, and an attempt to enter the light plane market with a small six-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine was not markedly successful. Licence to build Junkers diesel aircraft engines in this country also failed to produce substantial orders, chiefly because official policy veered away from the two-stroke diesel in favour of the petrol engine using fuels of higher octane numbers. When Major F. B. Halford was brought in to design entirely new types of engine, the vogue of the " H " type began, first with the 16-cylinder Rapier, and then with the 24-cylinder Dagger. Both these were air-cooled. Most recently came the Sabre liquid-cooled 24-cylinder sleeve-valve engine, which is now the only announced British aircraft engine in the "over 2,000 h.p." class. The announcement that Major Halford is to continue as technical head of the firm will be welcomed. Although originally and still mainly electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and general engineers, the English Electric Co., Ltd., is by no means a newcomer to the aviation industry. Its connection with that industry began during the 1914-18 war, and it may be recalled that flying boats were manufactured in Lancashire to the designs of Mr.. W. O. Manning, one of the pioneers of British aircraft designers. For the light plane trials at Lympne, Mr. Manning designed the little Wren mono- plane, which flew remarkably well with an A.B.C. two- cylinder engine of about ten actual horse-power. When R
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
