Tag Archives: Rolls-Royce Merlin engine

Case colored

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I came across this at an airshow event I attended and was struck by it, so I figured I would share with like-minds.

Photo Chris Eger

Note the beautiful discoloration on the airskin from the flame exhaust of the muscle that is a Packard V-1650-7 Merlin. The liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce V-12 piston engine was capable of well over 1,300 hp probably contributed more to the defeat of the Germans over Western Europe than any other single mechanical invention.

The beast powers a TP-51C Mustang owned and operated by the Collings Foundation. Born as P-51C 42-103293 “Betty Jane” to North American at its Dallas Facility, the plane was restored and converted in 2002 to a 2 seat version of the P-51C and is an airshow regular.

Warhawk in flight (without shark jaws!)

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Click to big up

Click to big up

View of a Curtiss Warhawk P-40F fighter plane. Label on back: “New Curtiss Warhawk fighter for the U.S. Army Air Forces. Shown in this close-up flight photo is the U.S. Army Air Forces’ new Curtiss Warhawk P-40F fighter, the faster, heavily armed, high-climbing successor to the Curtiss P-40, Tomahawk and Kittyhawk types widely used by American pilots and made famous by the ‘Flying Tigers’ of the AVG in China and the Royal Air Force in the Middle East. The first U.S. military plane to be powered with the new American-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the new Warhawk incorporates many advances developed in actual air combat. It is in the 400 m.p.h. class but details of its performance are withheld.” Stamped on back: “It is absolutely forbidden to reproduce, syndicate or use this photo for advertising purposes with written permission. Photo by Rudy Arnold, press photographer. P.O. Box 60, Sheepshead Bay Station, Brooklyn, N.Y. Newspaper, magazine, aerial & color photography.” Handwritten on back: “Aircraft in action.”

Courtesy of the National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library