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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 0156.PDF
146 FLIGHT International, 17 January 1981 mistic about developing a wide family of related engine types, extending between 33,2601b(148kN)-thrust and 55,0001b(245kN)- thrust, within half a decade of certificating the RB.211-22 at 42,0001b(187kN)-thrust for the TriStar. The true development costs—almost double those which had been quoted—mounted so rapidly, however, that the parent company collapsed in February 1971. Rolls-Royce was nationalised, to protect a hard-pressed Lockheed as much as the UK's only major aero-engine supplier—and engine develop ment continued with a barely noticeable delay, permitting the prototype TriStar to fly its development programme. By the end of 1971 Lockheed had flown over 2,500hr and had 40 RB.21 Is at Palmdale. FAA certification was granted in March 1972, and the TriStar entered service the following month. By November that year more than 100 RB.211- 22Cs, all rated at 42,0001b(187kN)-thrust up to ISA + 3 -8°C, were delivered, and these were all subsequently up-dated to RB.211-22B standard: 42,0001b(187kN)-thrust up to ISA + 13-9°C. In December 1973 Rolls-Royce delivered the 200th engine to Lockheed, and furthermore had supplied almost 60 other engines for development or as airline spares. A major technical problem which arose during early development was that lightweight fan-blades made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic failed rain erosion tests and had to be replaced with much heavier Titanium blades. Because Rolls-Royce had chosen to use an extra spool the RB.211 was already a dense engine, and it had been one of the objectives of the lightweight fan to restore weight parity with contemporary designs. Robbed of that course—although the power/weight ratio has improved gradually throughout RB.211 de velopment—the company has subsequently stressed the extra efficiency of the three-shaft layout, and sought to achieve better s.f.c. performance than its competitor's designs. RB.211 derivatives did not arise as quickly as with the JT9D and CF6, but there have been two distinct families derived from the original RB.211-22 series. The first 48,0001b (214kN) thrust RB.211-524 ran on October 1, 1973 and was introduced into airline service in the TriStar 200 in June 1977. The RB-211-524B2, rated at 50,0001b(222kN), entered service one month later in the Boeing 747-200. This variant has also won orders to power long- range Lockheed TriStar 500s and opened a wide market in the higher thrust bracket alongside its rivals. The other major RB.211 derivative is the "scaled-fan" RB.211-535 which was launched in August 1978 as a Boeing 757 powerplant. The RB-211-535C will be rated at 37,4001b (166kN)-thrust, and is now the subject of a £250 million development programme. The first engine ran in April 1979, and an example should fly in a Boeing 747 testbed in May this year. US and UK. certification is expected at about the same time. The first RB-211-535C-powered Boeing 757 will fly in February next year and enter service in about two years' time. Rolls-Royce RB163-25 Spey Two-shaft turbofan. Commercial variants are still in production, but military versions—available either dry or with reheat are in production with licences only. The first Spey was run at Rolls-Royce Derby in 1960 and was the powerplant for the UK's second-generation short/medium-haul airliners—the twin-engined BAC One-Eleven and three-engined HS Trident. A more powerful, dry-rated, military variant was used in the HS. Buccaneer Mk. 2 and the commer cial engine was also chosen to power the Grumman Gulfstream executive jet and Fok- ker F.28, both of which were twin-engined designs. The latter used a derated, 9,8501b m RB2II-535 I FPROD. ENGINE I 30,001 I DECEMBER 1980 (43-8kNVthrust Spey Junior initially. The main family of Speys developed from 9,8501b (43-8kN)-thrust—for the RB.163-1 in early Tridents—up to 12,0001b(53-4kN)-thrust— for the RB.163-25 used in the Trident IE and 2, One-Eleven 300 and 400 and Gulfstream 2. Military production for the Buccaneer was well underway in 1965 when the engine was selected, in a reheated configuration called RB.168-25R, for F-4K and F-4M Phantoms purchased by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The dry version of this engine, RB.168- 20, later powered the HS Nimrod. Further Top Rolls-Royce as sembles RB.21 l-524s at Derby. The engines in the background are RB.211-524 B3s for TriStar 500s. Middle Rolls-Royce completes its first production- standard RB.211-535 in December 1980. Right Rolls-Royce and Japan are devel oping RJ.500 as a Spey replacement, but go-ahead has not yet been given military Spey development was undertaken by Detroit Diesel Allison, under the designa tion TF41. The Spey was contemporary with the P&W JT8D, but while that was developed into a larger powerplant in several stages, this never happened to the Spey, although in 1968 Rolls-Royce had proposed an aft-fan Spey with a bypass ratio of 5-7:1 for the BAC One-Eleven 600 project. Commercial engine deliveries are now at a low rate, and total Spey production is likely to stop at about 5,000 units. Manu-
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