Page 11 - HeritageEbooklet

The first aero engines

In 1907 Charles Rolls, who was a pioneer aviator, tried to persuade Henry
Royce to design an aero engine, but it was not something that Royce was
interested in at that time. It was only after the outbreak of war in August
1914 that Rolls-Royce Limited eventually turned its attentions to aero
engine manufacture.

Even though the war looked set to damage the market for luxury cars, there
was still considerable resistance in the boardroom to accept government
work to build aero engines. It was a personal approach by Claude Johnson
to the War Office that eventually led to the company agreeing to produce
fifty V8 engines under licence from Renault. This was quickly followed by
a request from the Royal Aircraft Factory for Rolls-Royce to design and
develop a new engine.

The Eagle (as the new engine was named) was designed by Henry Royce
based on the 40/50hp Silver Ghost engine. Development of the 200hp
(150kw) Eagle took only six months from design to test. The Admiralty
ordered 25 of the engines in January 1915 and the Eagle underwent its
first run on a test bed at the Derby factory the following month. The first
engines were fitted to a Handley Page O/100 biplane bomber in December
1915, and went on to power many other military aircraft. The Eagle was also
used as a power unit for tanks. It is estimated that half the aircraft engines
used by the Allies in the First World War were made by Rolls-Royce. The
Eagle’s basic design (see picture below) evolved into a series of increasingly
powerful aero engines, which were produced until 1928.

The Eagles have landed

The first direct transatlantic flight
was made by John Alcock and Arthur
Whitten Brown in June 1919 in a
Vickers Vimy, powered by two Eagle
engines. Eagle engines were also
fitted to the plane that made the
first flight from England to Australia,
flown by brothers Ross and Keith
Smith in 1919.

© Rolls-Royce plc
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