The Rolls-Royce Crecy: 21 (Historical S.)

A fascinating twist in the tale of piston engined aircraft development who would have thought it eh? A two stroke Rolls Royce running on neat petrol what a superb engine it would have been ...but for the Jet Engine which changed the whole scene. and rendered almost every other kind of aircraft engine obsolete .The only factor holding the Crecy back when it was a viable project was the metallurgy of the time today we know today that it could have done with a squish band cylinder head to help cool the piston down that and high pressure oil sprayed directly under the piston crown which would have made a big difference. Recently Mercedes has gone back to using steel pistons to produce a material improvement in the fuel economy and performance of their new diesel engines. Perhaps we need a new Ricardo to look at this kind of clean burning motor which is directly descended from one of the very first engines he produced in his youth. This clean running and reliable moter was very succesful and used in both cars and small working boats like trawlers and drifters but he hadn't acquired the requisite business acumen or the money to make it happen big time..It's a different world now but we still need something to generate electrical power some fuel burning engine - perhaps hydrogen which runs with the minimum of pollution and Ricardo's first engine would make a good starting point if someone looked at it again. The Wolf engine originally developed by Bernard Hooper for Norton Motorcycles is still being produced in small quantities and it has a strong potential in this field......What a tragedy it is that our amazingly diverse and wide ranging engineering genius in all kinds of aircraft engine development at this crucial time is virtually unknown.People like Arthur Alexander Rubbra Harry Ricardo Frank Halford of De Havilland and Napier and Roy Feddon of Bristol are almost unknown today whch is shameful and an outright self denigration of our Country's superb aircraft engine engineering expertise in the past. The highly gifted visionary Frank Whittle was just another boffin in a veritable galaxy of talented aircraft airframe and engine designers and engineers who spanned the whole fabric of our Aircraft Industry.. Why are our matchless achievements in aircraft engine technology made to be invisible I would think that if our children were to know of these marvellous characters they would be inspired to follow in their footsteps which promises especially beneficial results for both Industry and perhaps turbocharge our Countrys potential economic future Mind you once you do begin to investigate the ...unusual events in this fascinating sphere of engineering that occurred during the Second World War you do wonder if this ......intruiging? period of our history has been deliberately covered up and deeply buried well out of sight to protect the ....guilty!

Excellent publication

As good as I was expecting.

GREAT INFORMATION FOR AVIATION ENGINE ENTHUSIAST

Highly informative,

excellent