Rolls-Royce Kestrel

The Rolls -Royce Kestrel was a water-cooled twelve-cylinder V- engine airplane in vertical arrangement of the British manufacturer Rolls- Royce. It was the first block engine manufactured by the company, in which the crankcase was cast from aluminum.

The name of the engine comes under former Rolls- Royce tradition of the bird world, the genus of falcons (English: Kestrel ).

History

After the appearance of the Curtiss D-12 Rolls- Royce had to respond and also offer a built along modern lines motor. The chief engineer of Napier, Arthur Rowledge, was recruited and charged with developing a competitive engine, said he initially the Rolls-Royce Condor significantly improved.

Building on this experience developed Rowledge an engine with a supercharger to still have a higher altitude the full power available and this simply to increase by increasing the boost pressure further later. Then there was a hot cooling ( design temperature: 150 ° C) with a closed and under pressure cooling system.

After the development was started in 1925, the first engines were delivered in 1927. At first they had a power output of 462 hp, which was, however, soon increased with the Kestrel IB to 530 hp. This version was used in the two-seat light bomber Hawker Hart. 1933 was derived from the Kestrel IV equipped with evaporative cooling Rolls- Royce Goshawk.

The grow fast so that the Mk V gave already 708 hp at an engine speed of 3000 min -1. The Kestrel XVI used in advanced - training aircraft Miles MasterCard already made ​​762 hp. The Rolls- Royce engine was also exported abroad. So purchased among others German aircraft firms some Kestrel engines, which were installed for example in the prototypes of the Arado Ar 67 Arado Ar 80 Heinkel He 170, but especially in 1935, the two competitors Heinkel He 112 and Messerschmitt Bf 109, as in this performance class German aircraft engines were still in development.

Improvements to the fuel and the resulting higher compression ratio of the Kestrel XXX made ​​in 1940 already 1060 hp. However, he was soon replaced by the much more successful Rolls- Royce Merlin. As a further development in 1938, the V12 and Peregrine, Kestrel, taking full use of components already in 1937 with 24 cylinders of the X motor Vulture, but not both gained more importance arose. Overall, were built in more than 20 different versions about 4750 Rolls- Royce Kestrel.

Applications

United Kingdom United Kingdom

Deutsches Reich Nazi German Empire

  • Arado Ar 67
  • Arado Ar 80
  • Heinkel He 70
  • Heinkel He 112
  • Messerschmitt Bf 109 V1

Technical data ( Kestrel V)

  • Bore: 127 mm
  • Stroke: 140 mm
  • Capacity: 21.24 l
  • Compressor: centrifugal fan, with gear ratio 1:8,81
  • Full pressure altitude: 4260 m
  • Power: 512 kW ( 695 hp)
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