The Engines Were Rolls-Royce by Ronald W. Harker (1979, Book, Illustrated)

This is a book about Rolls-Royce aircraft engines, both piston and jet (gas turbine). Harker traces the history of Rolls and Royce from the beginning of the company through to the reorganization following bankruptcy in '71.

There is content on the WWI aircraft engines, the Schneider Trophy engines that gave such a head-start for the engineering of WWII aircraft engines including the famous Merlin, and less-well-known (and infamous) Vulture, and the Griffin, along with engineering prototypes such as the Crecy (twelve cylinder, two stroke, fuel injected, 2000 horsepower!)and the Eagle--24 cylinders, and sleeve valves yielding 3,500 horsepower.

Jet engines are well covered, including the Whittle/Welland, Derwent, Nene, and so forth to the Vertical Takeoff project, and from there on to the Jumbo Jet and Concorde engines.

There are two "center sections" of black-and-white photos printed on glossy paper.

All in all, a very entertaining book because of all the anecdotes that involved the people who designed, tested, and sold these engines.

Printed in the USA. I bought my copy around 1980 or so, the pages are beginning to yellow a bit.

If this review has been helpful, please give me a "Yes" vote by clicking the button below. If you have suggestions for improvement, you can contact me through the "My Messages" feature of eBay by clicking on my user name above, and then click on "Contact Member". Thanks, all!