When I was an apprentice with Westland Helicopters at Hayes, the lads in the apprentice school were given the task of preparing a Fairey “H” engine for display in a museum, at Southampton I think. During the work, one of the lads thought it would be fun to leave a scraper inside one of the cylinders, before the head was attached.:eek: I wonder if the engine still exists and if the head has been removed to reveal the foreign body within?
By: pagen01 - 15th June 2011 at 10:53
A quick update, just been on the blower to DM himself, and he assures me that it is the P.24 Monarch that is pictured and at the FAAM Reserve.
The ’16’ look to it is down to shared exhauts outlets and stubs etc.
He also says that the original prop sets are with the collection aswel, so would be nice to see them all reunited and displayed one day.
Banupa, Dave at the FAA Museum would also be very interested in hearing about your time at Hayes and the resto work involved with this engine, please PM for contact details or follow the links on the FAAM website.
It’s a fine looking powerplant, especially for one so complex!
By: pagen01 - 14th June 2011 at 14:09
If the scraper was removed from the bores, I wonder what if would sound like running…?;)
Possibly not much different than if it was left in!:D
Glad to see it’s still around. I think this was the only engine Fairey’s made, unless anyone knows otherwise?
Pretty much, they built a V-12 Prince engine, the P.16 H-16 Prince, and the P.24 H-24 Monarch, all were prototypes withich had some degree of air-testing.
By: pagen01 - 14th June 2011 at 13:57
I think you mean ” two 8 cylinder engines “.
Sorry meant 12 cylinders, 2 x 12 = P.24 Monach H-24 engine, the P.16 Prince H-16 engine was made up of two eight cylinder halves.
Both operate in the same way, ie two sets of individual moving parts driving their own crankshafts arranged in a common crankcase as one powerplant.
Maybe it’s the P.16 in the picture (certainly seeing multiples of four), but I thought it was the P.24 that is kept at the FAAM?:confused:
By: |RLWP - 14th June 2011 at 13:42
Who is going to put a borescope down one of the spark plug holes then? Eager readers want to know if the scraper is still there 😀
Richard
By: dogsbody - 14th June 2011 at 13:25
It should be noted that this Fairey P.24 powerplant actually consists of two 16 cylinder engines which operated completely independently of each other and drove their own crank and prop shafts, ie they weren’t coupled in any way.
Each unit could therefore be shut down, the idea being plenty of power when needed for take-off, striking etc, and one engine for economical cruising and loitering, it was envisaged for use in the Spearfish and early Type Q (Gannet forerunner).
The basic principle was later resurrected for the Double Mamba gas turbine unit, which Fairey worked very closley with Armstrong Siddeley motors to develop.
I think you mean ” two 8 cylinder engines “.
Chris
By: alertken - 14th June 2011 at 13:21
Starting with Felix/licenced Curtiss D-12, Richard Fairey tried repeatedly to win A.M funds for aero-engines. You will find conspiracy theories for his failure. But the same failure attached to Alvis, Wolseley. Air Ministry’s sponsorship branches (that in May,1940 became the Ministry of Aircraft Production) agreed to confine invitations to tender new designs, to a “Ring” (the word did not have today’s auction-negative): Fairey was “in” on airframes, but A.M judged it would scarcely have enough business for ASM+Bristol+Napier+RR, so declined to waste national resources on any more.
Same reason as declining to fund, e.g Martin Baker airframe designs.
By: Banupa - 14th June 2011 at 12:05
Thanks for the info Pagen. At the age of 16, I don’t recall having any idea of how any piston engines actually worked, let alone something as complex as this one. If the scraper was removed from the bores, I wonder what if would sound like running…?;)
By: pagen01 - 14th June 2011 at 11:53
It should be noted that this Fairey P.24 powerplant actually consists of two 16 cylinder engines which operated completely independently of each other and drove their own crank and prop shafts, ie they weren’t coupled in any way.
Each unit could therefore be shut down, the idea being plenty of power when needed for take-off, striking etc, and one engine for economical cruising and loitering, it was envisaged for use in the Spearfish and early Type Q (Gannet forerunner).
The basic principle was later resurrected for the Double Mamba gas turbine unit, which Fairey worked very closley with Armstrong Siddeley motors to develop.
By: Banupa - 14th June 2011 at 11:41
Glad to see it’s still around. I think this was the only engine Fairey’s made, unless anyone knows otherwise?
By: Banupa - 14th June 2011 at 11:10
Yes, that looks like the one! The black painted bits, I hauled on a trolley from the Apprentice Training School (some wooden sheds) across the site to the Paint Shop, in pouring rain. Happy days…
So where is it now, Yeovilton?
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June 14, 2011 at 9:41 am