A Wisdom Archive on Napier Nomad - Design

In 1945 the Air Ministry asked for proposals for a new 6,000 horsepower (4,500 kW) class engine with good economy. Curtiss-Wright was designing an engine of this sort of power known as the "turbo-compound", but Sir Harry Ricardo, one of Britain's great engine designers, suggested that the most economical combination would be a similar design using a diesel two-stroke in place of the Curtiss's gasoline engine. Prior to World War II Napier had licensed the Junkers Jumo 204 Diesel design to set up production in the UK as the Napier Culve ...

Read more here: » Napier Nomad: Encyclopedia II - Napier Nomad - History

Starting from scratch, the Napiers decided to use the new sleeve valve design in a much larger H-block 24-cylinder engine, soon to be known as the Sabre. The engine was very advanced and proved to be difficult to adapt to assembly line efforts, so while the engine was ready for production in 1940, it wasn't until 1944 what production versions were considered reliable. At that point efforts were made to improve it, leading eventually to the Sabre VII delivering 3,500 hp (2,600 kW), making it the most powerful engine in the ...

Read more here: » Napier & Son: Encyclopedia II - Napier & Son - Pre-and-World War II

The aircraft was designed by Roy Chadwick as the Avro Type 696. It was clearly based on the successful wartime Avro Lancaster bomber, one of Chadwick's designs and the Lancaster derivative the Avro Lincoln, which was the then current ASW aircraft. The design took the Lincoln's wings and landing gear and mated them with a new fuselage. The engines were Rolls-Royce Griffons with 13 feet (4 m) contra-rotating propellors, creating a distinctive engine noise and adding high-tone deafness to the hazards of the pilots. The first test flight ...

Read more here: » Avro Shackleton: Encyclopedia II - Avro Shackleton - History