Rolls Royce From the Wings: Military Aviation 1925-1971

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{detailed description}Ronnie Harker served Rolls-Royce from 1925-1971; forty-five years of unparalleled advance in technology and performance in aviation. The author and his contemporaries in engineering and aircraft design were involved with pre-war re-armament, war-time development, and post-war advance into the jet and V 'STOL era, and supersonics.
The narrative describes the vital part that Rolls-Royce played in the development of military aircraft in World War II; how a most successful family of aero engines evolved from the Kestrel to become the "R' engine which won the Schneider Trophy for Britain and the Merlin engine which powered all the British fighters in the Battle of Britain, and also the Lancaster, Halifax and Mosquito bombers. Probably the most significant personal contribution made by the author at this time was his realisation that the Merlin engine should be installed into the Mustang aeroplane. The Merlin Mustang became the most successful all-purpose fighter of the War and effectively turned the tide of the War in our favour.
When the War ended, a very serious slump in aircraft production was averted by the emergence of the jet engine, pioneered by Sir Frank Whittle and Rolls-Royce. The RAF had to be re-equipped and Rolls-Royce soon established a valuable export market in America and France (and inadvertently the USSR!) A civil market too was opened up and keen competition soon materialised with the US engine makers, who, by taking licences from Rolls-Royce, had quickly learned the necessary technology to produce them.
An insight is revealed into the tough battle for the military market of 1956 to the present day, when one gradually learned that the days of producing the best possible engine/plane combination for a direct operational requirement were over and that decisions were becoming complicated by economic, commercial and political pressures and by government policy. In spite of this however, successes were achieved; those described include the Spey Phantom, the Vertical Take Off Mirage and the LTV Corsair.
The final triumph, and tragically, the final downfall of the Company, was the production of the large fan engine, the RB-211 for the wide-bodied air liners. Towards the end of the author's career, the civil side had been absorbing increasing amounts of development and production time and money - often at the expense of military requirements - and the RB-211 engine finally sent the Company into bankruptcy at a time when the military side had won the order for the RB-199 engine for the European MRCA, and the Olympus engine was being produced for Concorde.
This book is essentially about Rolls-Royce; its principles and personalities, its contribution to military aviation, and its rise and fall as seen by the author. But because the author worked so closely with the RAF, the Royal Navy, the USAF and the plane makers in Britain, France and the USA, the book offers an essentially unique picture of military aviation during the 1925-71 period and should prove of real interest to anyone with a fascination for aviation history.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by R. W. Harker
published by Oxford Illustrated Press 1976 1st edn. illustrated 18x25
{condition}ex-lib front free end paper removed, usual library stamps, fair reading copy in d/j
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