Warbird Information Exchange

The Merlin: The engine that saved the free world?

in Featured Article, War Articles / by Jack / on August 9, 2012 at 09:38 /

For most people, an engine just gets us from A to B – and drinks expensive petrol. But one, the Rolls-Royce Merlin, may have been the difference between freedom and tyranny. Such is its lasting impact, it was celebrated on Sunday with the first ever Spitfires, Merlins and Motors event at Duxford – the Imperial War Museum’s aviation centre in Cambridgeshire.

Mike Evans, who founded the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, believes the engine turned the tide of war. The Spitfire secured its place in history taking on the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain “Without the Merlin, we would not have won the Battle of Britain and Hitler may have crossed the channel,” he said. Designed in Derby, it powered a series of planes which between 1940 and 1945 halted, hammered and then crippled the forces of Nazi Germany. The Merlin had a rich heritage, developed from engines designed and used during World War I and the peacetime air speed competition, the Schneider Trophy.

Air supremacy

Receiving no government backing, Rolls-Royce built a prototype which by 1935 was producing more than 1,000 horsepower, 40% more than its predecessor the Kestrel. Nigel Rose, Spitfire Pilot: “I flew Kestrels in Harts and Hinds early on and you really noticed the difference in power [when using the Merlin].”And it was so dependable. I flew 900 hours in Spitfires during the war and never had any trouble at all.”All through the war the German planes, the Messerschmitts and so on, and British planes were stepping up each other in performance, manoeuvrability and speed.”The Merlin kept up, it was improved, it got more powerful.”

This performance led to it being adopted for the new generation of RAF fighters – just in time for Britain’s hour of greatest need in 1940.

Four Merlins helped the Lancaster bomber become one of the Allies main ways of striking at Nazi Germany

Leo McKinstry, author of books on the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster, said: “By preventing the Luftwaffe from gaining air supremacy over southern England, the two legendary fighters destroyed the Reich’s hopes of mounting an invasion. “But these aircraft would never have achieved that success without the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. “Robust and supremely efficient, the Merlin gave the RAF’s fighters the power and performance they needed to defend our skies.”

Bombing losses

Proven in combat, demand for the Merlin grew. Production was expanded to factories in Crewe, Glasgow and Manchester – and eventually the US. Mr Evans said: “People had confidence in it and it went on and on being improved. “A lot of other manufacturers were shouting that they had the best thing since sliced bread saying ‘forget the Merlin, it is old hat’.

Merlins still inspire thousands of enthusiasts. “But it got better and better as the war went on. It was there, it could be relied upon, it would work.”Once Britain was safe from invasion, attention turned to striking back through Bomber Command – but its planes often suffered savage losses.However, from late 1941 the Lancaster, powered by four Merlins, gave the RAF the ability hit the Third Reich hard.Mr McKinstry said: “With its vast capacity, capable of carrying 22,000 pounds, the Lancaster needed a special engine and, as the epitome of reliability, the Merlin was ideally suited to the task.

“It was, of course, the Merlin that powered the planes of the Dambusters Raid in May 1943, the greatest single RAF exploit of the war and one that symbolised Britain’s heroic fightback against Germany.”

False start

Even with the Lancaster, the RAF concentrated mainly on night attacks. Darkness protected the planes but made accurate bombing difficult. The United States Air Force decided on daylight attacks but some raids suffered losses of more than 20%. The answer was to protect the bombers with the sleek, silver Mustang fighter – but its impact was not instant.

Peter Murton, research officer at Duxford, said: “The American P-51 Mustang was only successful as a high-altitude escort fighter because the original American Allison engine was replaced with a Merlin – at the recommendation of the Air Fighting Development Unit here at Duxford.

“This created the most potent and successful long-range escort fighter of the war.” Using the Mustang, the fighting power of the Luftwaffe was broken in a matter of weeks.

‘Hope and Glory’

By the end of the war, and the emergence of the jet engine, about 150,000 Merlins had been built. It was used in 17 operational aircraft types. Mr Murton said: “The Merlin was fundamental to the success of the Allied air campaign. “If you think about the aircraft types that were fitted with the Merlin and were successful in particular because of their power plants, it was crucial.”

And its legacy continues, as Mr Evans explained: “It’s like Land of Hope and Glory, it’s part of who…

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature ... world.html

It's always fun when a person or group that has a particular narrow historical interest inflates it many magnitudes of importance to historical outcomes. This story, however, elevates it almost to the point of self-parody.

It really isn't even clear that air power was decisive in WWII, let alone any particular type(s) of aircraft, let alone the engine used in some of those aircraft. You really have to willfully ignore the big picture and be totally focused on your favorite piece of technology to take an argument like this seriously. I'm sure the same type of argument is made for a particular type of machine-gun round, vehicle fuel, maybe even tank tread.

Just for starters, for this thesis you have to ignore the fact that Germany was 70% defeated by the USSR, a part of the "free world" that used almost no Merlins. And the aircraft used against Japan were almost all non-Merlin-powered.

August

From a British perspective sure it was.
It saved their bacon when they needed it and their wasn't much else that would keep them in the fight.

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Rich Palmer

Remember an Injured Youth
benstear.org
#64- Stay Strong and Keep the Faith

BOOM BOOM, ROUND ROUND, PROPELLER GO

Don't Be A Dilbert!

Overall, I'm thinkin' R-2800.
Installed in a wide variety of fighters, bombers, attack aircraft, made the sucessful transition from war to civil aviation without missing a beat and right this minute there's dozens of 2800's beating their hearts out around the world still reliably makin' a buck for their operators.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

+1

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

Except for the fact that the war had already been going on for several years (for most combatant nations) before it turned up!

Merlin saved the UK...but the world?

If the UK had been invaded or politically neutralized by Nazi Germany, America would have eventually won the war. Might have taken some time, but we'd eventually win from sheer numbers and production capability.

At worse, we would have had a "cold War" like standoff....for awhile.
But with Japan falling and Russia attacking from the East, Hitler's days were numbered after he gave up on neutralizing the Uk and giving US forces a base to attack his Fortress Europa from.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

I don't follow that thinking.
I think the overall issue as a whole is a moot point but it makes a cool exercise to look at some of the pivotal points and what was in use at that time.
From each nations involvement there will be prejudices but from the allies side if you look at the start of the War thru the end of the Battle of Britain for example in the region of western Europe and England. Russia was on the wrong side at that point. What engine powered the majority of the Allied A/C at that point and what impact did they have on history?
The US from the 1938 to 1942 relied on the Allison and P&W 1830 and the Wright 1820. How did they fare?
As you look at each time period you find changes. But was it the technology improvement or the quantity produced that gave it the success?

You add it up and there is success but there are points that I'm glad their was something there that was great enough to allow us to be able to have this argument now.

_________________
Rich Palmer

Remember an Injured Youth
benstear.org
#64- Stay Strong and Keep the Faith

BOOM BOOM, ROUND ROUND, PROPELLER GO

Don't Be A Dilbert!

.

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Impeach, Remove, Convict, Imprison!!...

And the invasion of Europe would have been launched from where? Iceland, perhaps?

Yeah, when is the last time you saw a MERIN powered airliner at your local airport?
and why do you suppose the B-36 project was started in 1943? To operate from Iceland against Germany if necessary.

_________________
Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

.

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Impeach, Remove, Convict, Imprison!!...

North Africa. Eventually, it would have been invaded, perhaps after softening up by B-36s.

Allow me to play devil's advocate....
I don't think the UK would have been invaded, but as I said politically neuteralized if the US hadn't entered the war.
Judging by the UK's actions after VE Day, I think the population would have gotten very tired after awhile. I could see the population going for a "Peace with Honor"; an election of a Labour government who wouldn't make trouble for Germany in exchange for local overeignty, keeping the King and a bit of Empire, and then the UK populace going away happy as long as they had the NHS.

Come to think of it, the engine that saved the world was the Sakae radial as fitted to the A6M. Without Pearl Harbour the US would have never entered the war.
As good and brave as the Brits were, there was no way they could win WWII without the US.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

I too was thinking R2800. R1830 is a close second then Wright R1820.

We played this game at work a few years back... and decided, after some debate, that a) the Harley-Davidson was the motorcycle that won WWII, and b) the Graflex Speed Graphic was the camera that won WWII. I then told my stepfather about our discussions and he (very wisely) said, "No, it was the P-38 can opener. Everybody in that war had to eat."