The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British, liquid-cooled, 27-litre (1,650 cu
in) capacity, V-12 piston aero engine, designed and built by
Rolls-Royce Limited. Initially known as the PV-12, Rolls-Royce named
the engine the Merlin following the company convention of naming its
piston aero engines after birds of prey. The PV-12 first ran in 1933,
and a series of rapidly applied developments brought about by wartime
needs improved the engine's performance markedly. The first operational
aircraft to enter service using the Merlin were the Fairey Battle,
Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. More Merlins were made for
the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber than any other aircraft;
however, the engine is most closely associated with the Spitfire and
powered its maiden flight in 1936. Considered a British icon, the
Merlin was one of the most successful aircraft engines of the World War
II era, and many variants were built by Rolls-Royce in Derby, Crewe and
Glasgow, as well as by Ford of Britain in Trafford Park, Manchester.
The Packard V-1650 was a version of the Merlin built in the United
States. Production ceased in 1950 after a total of almost 150,000
engines had been delivered, the later variants being used for airliners
and military transport aircraft. In military use the Merlin was
superseded by its larger capacity stablemate, the Rolls-Royce Griffon.
Merlin engines remain in Royal Air Force service today with the Battle
of Britain Memorial Flight, and power many restored aircraft in private
ownership worldwide.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
To protect American merchant ships from Barbary pirates, the United
States Congress passed the Naval Act to establish a naval force of six
frigates, which eventually became the United States Navy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy>
1851:
Explorer Lafayette Bunnell and other members of the Mariposa Battalion
became the non-indigenous discoverers of California's Yosemite Valley .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Valley>
1977:
Two Boeing 747 airliners collided on a foggy runway at Los Rodeos
Airport on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people and
resulting in the worst aircraft accident in aviation history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster>
1998:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug sildenafil,
better known by the trade name Viagra, for use as a treatment for
erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition
in the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sildenafil>
2002:
A suicide bomber killed about 30 Israeli civilians and injured about
140 others at the Park Hotel in Netanya, triggering Operation Defensive
Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorist Israeli military incursion into
the West Bank, two days later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bilious (adj):
1. Suffering from real or supposed liver disorder.
2. Of or pertaining to something containing or consisting of bile.
3.
Irritable or bad tempered; irascible
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bilious>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There’s a good time coming, boys!
A good time coming.
We may not live to see the day,
But earth
shall glisten in the ray
Of the good time coming.
Cannon-balls may aid the truth
But
thought’s a weapon stronger;
We’ll win our battles by its aid,
Wait a little longer.
--Charles Mackay
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Mackay>