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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1019.PDF
Assembly of Rolls-Royce Conway RCo.42 Mk 540 running were delivered last December, flight engines followed in March and the aircraft should be flying by the time this appears. The Mk 550 runs with higher h-p r.p.m. and slightly increased flame temperature, and has a strengthened h-p compressor, outlet casing and turbine discs. Dart Approximately 3,700 of these single-shaft turboprop engines have now been delivered, and the 20,000,000hr which they have logged to date is increasing at the rate of more than 10,000hr per day. The world record time between overhauls with no intermediate inspection is held by the RDa.3 Mk 506 engines of TCA, which are cleared to 4,000hr. Most of the engines in service are of the RDa.6 rating (1,670 e.h.p. minimum), the Dart 510 being overhauled by United Air Lines at 3,500hr and all other operators having achieved times upwards of 2,250hr. The later Viscounts have the RDa.7, 7/1 and 7/2, with mini mum ratings of 1,815, 1,910 and 2,020 e.h.p. respectively. Both BEA and Lufthansa have now reached 3,000hr between overhauls with these engines. Military version of the RDa.7 is the RDa.8, the Mk 101 variant of which is the powerplant of the RAF Argosy C.l, and has a water/ methanol system to hold 2,680 e.h.p. at up to ISA+30°C. Due to fly in about two months' time, the Japanese Namco YS-11 transport is powered by the RDa.10/1, in which mass flow is increased by 15 per cent giving a minimum rating with water/methanol boost of 3,030 e.h.p. in civil service. RB.108 With this single-shaft turbojet Rolls-Royce have gained a vast amount of experience in the field of jet lift. Five are installed in the Short SCI, four providing lift and one propulsion. Extensive research has been carried out with units mounted vertically in a Meteor and on various static rigs, and eight RB.108s are scheduled to lift the Dassault Balzac research aircraft late this year. The RB.108 is rated at 2,2001b with 11 per cent air bleed for aircraft stabilization; it has a thrust/weight ratio higher than 8 : 1. FLIGHT International, 28 June 1962 1017 RB.141 First of the company's series of new by-pass engines, the RB.141 Medway has completed over l,400hr of ground testing at ratings in the 15,0001b class. Advanced versions for both civil and military purposes are the RB.174 and RB.177. RB.145 No production application has been announced for this single-shaft turbojet, although variants are specified for a number of projects. Typical ratings are 2,7501b dry and 3,6501b with reheat, and both deflecting and tilting lift/thrust versions have been projected. RB.146 See Avon 300. RB.153 Although this engine has never been officially referred to by Rolls-Royce, it is clear that the RB.153 is a family of engines of considerable potential significance. The earliest references appeared in October 1959, when it was stated that "a small turbojet of unusual design" was to be developed jointly by Rolls-Royce and MAN (q.v., Germany). Shortly afterwards came reports that the engine had a thrust of "about 4,9001b," and at this time it was clearly a straight jet. In 1960 an engine designated RB.153/17 was mentioned in connection with the Entwicklungsring Sud Traumjager (dream fighter) VJ-101, which in its original form also had RB.145 engines swivelling about horizontal axes at the wing tips. As is now well known, Sud completely re-engineered this project last year to produce the more practical VJ-101D. Engines are said to be RB.162s for lift plus a pair of RB. 153/6Is or RB.153Zs, which clearly bear as little relation to the original 153 as does the VJ-101 D to its pre decessor. American journals have called the new RB.153 "a scaled- down Spey of 8,0001b dry thrust"; but, unlike the RB.180, the 153 is evidently an extremely hot and highly rated unit. Drawings issued by Fiat showing the engines of the G.95/6 indicate that the RB.153 is only some 25in diameter and 65in long without afterburner. NBMR-3 tactical strike projects, and other suggested aircraft, specify the RB.153 for both lift and thrust. The majority of designs are based upon a rear jetpipe deflector upstream of the afterburner, but in at least one case the fan air and gas jets are exhausted through separate rotating nozzles, as is done in lift/thrust engines from another company. RB.162 Likely to be manufactured in greater quantity than any contemporary aircraft gas turbine, the RB.162 lift unit represents the outcome of ten years' effort in the field of specialized jet-lift engines. Whether jet lift should be obtained by vectoring propulsive thrust or by installing batteries of ad hoc lift units is probably the most vexed question of basic aircraft design about which engineers are currently arguing; and without the RB.162 the case for the latter arrangement would be considerably weakened. Key to such a unit is simplicity, for this reduces both weight and cost. Details of the 162 are restricted, but one may expect to find a rotating assembly hung between two bearings, with a high-intensity annular VTOL installation of twin RB.108
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