Page 24 - HeritageEbooklet

Post-war boom and bust

In 1943, Rolls-Royce began to engine designs. The Avon-powered
manufacture Britain’s first production Comet was the first turbojet to enter
jet engine, the RB23 Welland, which transatlantic service. Avon engines
was pioneered by Sir Frank Whittle. were produced for 24 years until 1974.
The engine entered production in
1943 for the Gloster Meteor. In 1960, the Rolls-Royce RB80
Conway engine in the Boeing 707
When the war was over, Rolls-Royce became the first turbofan to enter
in Derby focused on the development airline service.
and manufacture of aero engines.
Car manufacturing transferred to In June 1967, Rolls-Royce was
the Crewe factory in 1946. offering a new three-shaft turbofan
engine: the RB211. It combined the
The company began to develop features of several engines that were
the Dart engine at the end of the under development at the time, as
war. It began life as the RB53 in well as a fan stage made with a new
Barnoldswick and was further carbon fibre material, which gave
developed in Derby under the the engine a competitive power-to-
leadership of Lionel Haworth. The weight ratio. Rolls-Royce committed
engine powered the maiden flight of to bringing its RB211engine into
the Vickers Viscount in 1948 and it service in 1971. However, intense
became the first turboprop engine negotiations between airframe
to enter airline service with British manufacturers Lockheed and
European Airways (BEA). The Dart Douglas with potential engine
engine continued to be produced suppliers and major US airlines
until 1987. resulted in demands for higher
thrust ratings and lower prices.
By the 1950s and 60s Rolls-Royce
had entered the civil aviation Rolls-Royce responded by offering
market. The jet successor to the an RB211that had a 40,600lbf thrust
Merlin was the Rolls-Royce Avon, and, in March1968, Lockheed placed
the company’s first axial flow jet an order for 150 sets of the engines,
engine. It was introduced in 1950 which were designated RB211-22.
and went on to become one of This order was a huge achievement
the most successful post-war for Rolls-Royce, but by the autumn

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