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 In military use the Merlin was superseded by its larger capacity stablemate, the Rolls-Royce Griffon.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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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