Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines recovered

MiTasol · Feb 15, 2022

nuuumannn said:
True enough. I feel like the Whirlwind was over promised and under delivered. I guess in hindsight, knowing what we do about the history of the Peregrine, Petter could and should have started with the Merlin from the outset and perhaps had he not been so technologically ambitious he might have had a winner on his hands. A little bit simpler without the flaps interconnected with the radiator and engine cooling cowls, and a simpler control system - does an aircraft that size need a hydraulically actuated control system? Then the aircraft could have been a winner. Confining the design to the Peregrine was effectively a death sentence, because only with considerable redesign could a different engine be fitted. All in hindsight, of course.

If the writer on the Whirlwind site is correct, and he certainly makes a good case, the performance issues were far more to do with the dH props than the Peregrine engine. I do not have the engineering expertise to challenge his calculations but the performance of the prototype, the only one fitted with a Rotol prop, certainly supports his hypothesis.
https://www.whirlwindfighterproject.co.uk/arm-waving-aerodynamics/

IF he is correct the engine was getting a bum reputation partially from the props behavior

nuuumannn · Feb 15, 2022

MiTasol said:
If the writer on the Whirlwind site is correct, and he certainly makes a good case, the performance issues were far more to do with the dH props than the Peregrine engine.

Pretty much, that's the conclusion I have come to from what I've read. It doesn't explain the other unnecessary oddities that afflicted the type though, they are design considerations, unlike the prop issues. When I say under delivered, I'm not specifically talking about performance, as that was still quite good, with the exception of its altitude performance, which again was not down to the props, but the Peregrines. What I mean is that Petter promised that the aircraft would be built and delivered within a certain time period, but it wasn't, which has to do with the issues with the props, but also Westland itself.

FLYBOYJ · Feb 16, 2022

And don't forget that funky hydraulic throttle set-up!

stona · Apr 5, 2022

nuuumannn said:
Petter could and should have started with the Merlin from the outset and perhaps had he not been so technologically ambitious he might have had a winner on his hands.

Bristol, Westland and Supermarine, in their submissions to F.37/35, all specified the smallest possible engines consistent with achieving the required performance.

The Bristol twin, the Type 153A was to use a pair of Aquilas, the smallest of its new sleeve valve engines.

Supermarine's twin, the Type 313, was to use a pair of 21 litre Goshawk Bs, an evaporatively cooled derivative of the Kestrel.

Westland's submission initially also used a pair of Kestrels. The change to the Peregrine happened over the winter of 1937. In March 1938 Westland was actually waiting for Rolls-Royce to deliver the engines, one of the few delays not due to Westland!

nuuumannn · Apr 11, 2022

stona said:
In March 1938 Westland was actually waiting for Rolls-Royce to deliver the engines, one of the few delays not due to Westland!

Yup, the delays by Westland all came from the promise of fast manufacture and delivery... Very much Petter.

Yes, I'm aware of the specification to build the type, but as we know, the decision to fit the Peregrine brought about its premature demise (in hindsight), as I mentioned.

Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines recovered

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