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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1015.PDF
FLIGHT, 9 April 1954 Aero Engines I9S4 ... Italian sub-contracting industry supply detail parts such as ball bearings. Piaggio. Piaggio, S.P.A., Genoa. This aircraft firm has a licence from the American Lycoming company to make the 190 h.p. direct-drive and 260 h.p. geared flat-six engines of the 0-435 series. SWEDEN Flygmotor. Svenska Flygmotor A3., Trollhatten. Flyg- motor, or S.F.A. as they are colloquially known, hold production licences from de Havilland in respect of the Goblin and Ghost turbojets. The Goblin is out of normal production, and the Ghost is described below. The Trollhatten factory is now being largely re-tooled for licence-production of the Rolls-Royce Avon, initially for the Saab A-32 Lansen and possibly also for a selected fighter of British design. The Avon will be very similar to the RA.7, and its production is necessitating extensions to the Flygmotor plant to accommodate the extra machines needed for axial work. Flygmotor once had an engine of their own under develop ment and, when this was abandoned, helped STAL with the Dovern. They have also developed a light and efficient after burner control system, in which reheat fuel is governed electro- hydraulically as a function of turbine pressure ratio. Ghost R.M.2. Flygmotor have made this type of Ghost for some years under D.H. licence, the British company receiv ing a royalty on each engine. But Flygmotor have had an almost completely free hand, and are virtually self-sufficient in this work. The Saab J-29 fighter has a single intake-duct, and consequently the R.M.2 looks rather like a Comet engine but, as it is a fighter unit, it has no British equivalent. Flygmotor have carried out their own modifications on the Ghost, but the accessories—including a Lucas fuel system—are all British, licence-produced in Sweden. Bifurcated-intake Ghosts, virtually identical with our Ghost 103, are now also being built, for shipment to England and installation in Chester-built Venom night fighters destined for Sweden. Altogether, Flygmotor have done a fine job with the Ghost, of which they have already made some 600. STAL. Svenska Turbinfabriks AB Ljungstrom, Finspong. The STAL company began aircraft gas-turbine development immediately after the war, and the first engine actually built—a small axial turbojet named the Skuten—was running in 1948. This was largely a research engine, with the knowledge from which the much larger Dovern was designed. The Dovern itself is a truly remarkable achievement, and well reflects the native ability of the Swedes as engineers. No one would claim the Dovern to be a peer of the latest Avon, but it is at least a fine, modern engine, and it is thoroughly Swedish; STAL, at least, know what it means to develop a modern axial engine absolutely from scratch up to the point at which it is ready for production. The Dovern has at present completed about 4,000 hr of running, including over 300 in a Lancaster test-bed, which was supplied by Air Service Training. It must be disheartening to STAL to have the Avon put into production in Sweden in place of their own engine, satisfying as it may be to ourselves. STAL are reported to have a larger turbojet under development, but this is unconfirmed. Dovern. Although quite conventional in conception—being similar to an Orenda or Avon RA.l—the Dovern has several unusual features. The compressor casing is made not as two longitudinal halves but as two barrels joined around their mutual periphery; all blading and casings are of steel. In line with the seventh stage of blades are four automatic blow-off valves while, in the Dovern IIB and IIC, a pipe leads hot air from the last stage round to the front end to provide complete ice protection. A Lucas fuel system is fitted, and the starter is either a Rotax electric or B.T.H. cartridge unit; Rotax and Lodge supply the shielded high-energy ignition. A 70 h.p. remote- gearbox drive is standard. The Dovern IIC has a STAL after burner and gives about 10,200 lb thrust. CZECHOSLOVAKIA C.Z.A.L. Ceskoslovenske Zdvody Automobilove a Letecke, Krizikova 38, Prague X. All the former Czech manufacturers of aero engines, together with the remainder of the aircraft and automotive industry, have been placed under the direction of this central office, and all the products of the industry are marketed by Motokov, Ltd., a national fight-engineering sales organization. It is almost certain that the VK-1, and its variants (develop ments of the Rolls-Royce Nene), are in production in Czecho slovakia, and it may be that more recent axial engines of Russian 467 Alfa Romeo IISTer six-cylinder inverted in-line piston engine, ungeared and unsupercharged. Twin carburettors. Bore, 4.65in; stroke, 5.5in; swept volume, 560 cu in (9.2 litres); width, 19.6in; height, 32.5in; length, 64.7in; dry weight, 514 lb; maximum power, 225 h.p. at 2,400 r.p.m. Fiat Ghost 48 Mk 1 turbojet. Single-sided centrifugal compressor,(10 combustion chambers and single-stage turbine. Diameter, 53in; length, 130.5in; dry weight, 2,175 lb; mass flow, 88 lb/sec; pressure ratio, 4.5:1; maximum thrust, 4,850 lb at 10,250 r.p.m. with s.f.c. of 1.09 Ib/hr/lb. STAL Dovern II turbojet. Nine-stage compressor, nine combustion chambers and single-stage turbine. Diameter, 43.1in; length, 151.6in; dry weight, 2,635 lb; mass flow, 121 lb/sec; pressure ratio, 5.2:1; maximum thrust, 7,275.1b at 7,200 r.p.m. with s.f.c. of 0.92 Ib/hr/lb. design are also being built. The only units about which anything tangible is known are the light piston engines discussed below. Praga. The Praga D, air-cooled flat-twin engine is used in numerous light aircraft, including some few in this country. Giving 75 h.p. at 2,650 r.p.m. it is capable of operation on inferior fuels of 72 octane rating. It is in small series production for Czech and other touring and training aircraft. Walter. The Walter engines, to the classic Gipsy/Cirrus formula, have been made in large numbers over the last ten years and they enjoy a high reputation. Three basic types are being made, the Mikron (an inverted four-cylinder unit of 149 cu in capacity giving 65 h.p.), the Minor 4-III, described and illustrated, and the Minor 6-III (generally similar to the Minor 4-III, but with six cylinders, of 364.3 cu in total capacity and giving 160 h.p.). SWITZERLAND UNTIL 1948 the only important aero engines made in Switzer land were the Saurer of Hispano-Suiza-derived liquid-cooled vee-12 units, of which the 1,250 h.p. YS-2 was the most widely used. Since the war, however, the de Havilland Goblin turbojet, and later the Ghost, have entered service with the Swiss Air Force. The D.H. Engine company issued a licence to the Swiss Service Technique Militaire for the manufacture of the Ghost in Switzer land. The principal company concerned is Sulzer Bros., Ltd.,
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