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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0496.PDF
•254 FLIGHT Supercharger end of the new Griffon—the largest of the Rolls-Royce range. Its compact design will be appreciated. NEW ROLLS'-R 36.7 LITRE 12-CYLINDER ENGINE COMPACT SUPERCHARGER AN IT is now permissible to reveal that yet another Rolls-Royce engine is in operational service with the R.A.F. Known as the Griffon, the new engine is a twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled Vee type, and is in the 2,000 h.p. class. This new bird of prey which follows the Hawk, Falcon and Eagle of the first world war, already, by its amazing performance, has become a worthy contemporary of the Merlin—incidentally a bird of the Falcon family. The Griffon is larger than the Merlin, having a cylinder bore and stroke of 6.0 by 6.6 inches respectively, which give it a capacity of 36.7 litres against 27 litres of the Merlin, that is, 23 per cent, increase. Although an entirely new product, it is of the same cylinder arrangement and dimensions as the " R " type Rolls-Royce which won the Schneider Trophy in 1931. ^ The expeiience gained with that engine, coupled with the Merlin engine, which is produced so successfully in its thousands, has enabled Rolls-Royce engineers to evolve a unit already proved in reliability and high power generation. In this connection it may be recalled that the " R " type engine of 1930 still remains the out standing engine of all time. Produced especially for this comparatively short-distance it completed a one- hour endurance test without the slightest trouble-, developing 2,350 b.h.p. for a total weight of 1,630 lb. or 11 oz. per b.h.p. Its normal speed was 3,200 r.p.m. Latei the " R " engine was used in a successful attack upon the world's speed air record. With Fit. Lt. Stain- forth at the helm the record figure of 408 m.p.h. was attained. At one period the engine held the world's land, water and air speed records. Starboard side of the Griffon engine, notable for its clean desigiT^ f Driven from the engine shaft is a remote gearbox on which are mounted the mechanically-driven auxiliaries. The gearbox may be seen above the supercharger casing.
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