Site changes

September 2009
Welland and 264 pages updated.
August 2009
Links to Picassa Web albums added
Hercules 264 pages updated.
June 2009
Hercules 264 pages extended
May 2009
Merlin pages added
Hercules 264 pages extended
Events page updated.
March 2009
Events page updated
Hercules 264 pages updated
February 2009
Hercules 264 page revised
Welland  page revised
Hercules pages rearranged
Leonides page added

6th January 2009
Site established

Rolls-Royce Merlin XX

By Peter Grieve
 
Merlin XX engine, No 26071, built at the Rolls-Royce Hillington plant in Glasgow in March 1941. Fitted to Bristol Beaufighter IIF, serial No R2335 and served with the Fighter Interception Unit at Ford Airfield, West Sussex during 1941. Please scroll down the page for further information about this unusual aircraft and its engine.

YouTube Video

 

 

Below, the engine as purchased, along with the sister engine, 25985, at Narborough, Norfolk in 1992.

Below is a photo of the same engine from a similar position taken in 2007, the engine was restored by replacing the badly damaged castings, repairing any minor damage to the rest by welding, which included using the original cylinder blocks and all the internal running gear, which had not suffered much corrosion damage. She has been running regularly at shows since 2001 and at the start of 2009 has 120 hours running since rebuild, consisting of short runs of between 10 and 15 minutes, although will happily run continuously if required, the fuel tank will just about give 20 minutes running from its 12 gallon capacity!