The exhausts alongside forward facing intake ducts were used to heat the guns in the wing which were prone to stoppages at altitude as a result of the colder temperature, and superior to the earlier heating from the engine coolant radiator. These changes resulted in harnessing the exhaust gases provided an additional 10mph or 70 horsepower. The exhausts evolved from round outlets to fishtail in appearance which also had the bonus of reducing exhaust glare during night flying. The construction was also altered many times before the basic layout was formalised.īy Source, Fair use, LinkIt was soon discovered that simple changes to the ejector exhausts from simply blowing out to the side to being directed back would increase speed.
The engine suffered in early development and production with problems with the accessory gear trains, coolant jackets, cylinder head cracking, coolant leaks and excessive wear to the camshafts and crankshaft main bearings. Two aircraft had been designed with the PV-12 engine in mind, the Hawker Hurricane and Vickers Supermarine Spitfire, both would be critical to Britain’s war effort. It had been intended to utilise the evaporative cooling system but was replaced by the more reliable ethylene glycol liquid cooling system developed in the United States. The first ground run occurred on 15 October 1933 and first flew on 21 February 1935.
Public Domain, LinkThe engine began as the Private Venture 12 cylinder in the early 1930s as a successor to the highly successful Kestrel that powered the classic era of biplanes such as the Hawker Fury and Hart. The actual name derives from the Falco columbarius bird of prey rather than the legendary wizard from the court of King Arthur!
By JAW at English Wikipedia - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, LinkThe Rolls-Royce Merlin is synonymous with the Spitfire and as depicted in The First of the Few film of 1942, it would work wonders alongside the airframe conceived by RJ Mitchell.
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