PMN1
26th December 2008, 20:35
Interesting line in ‘Not Much of and Engineer, Sir Stanley Hooker An Autobiography’
Proof of the pudding was really in flying the engine. Although we could predict the power at 30,000ft, we would only know the real answer in the air. In due course, two engines were installed in a Wellington and the first flight was made from Hucknall.
That day he Hs (Ernest Hives) sent for me. I went to his office and he asked, “What do you say the full-throttle height of the two-stage Merlin is?”
Nervously, I replied, “I calculate it to be 30,000ft, approximately”.
He passed me a piece of paper, and on it was written just 29,750. He said, “I have just taken that figure from Dorey taken on the first flight of the Wellington”. He never indulged on complements, but was obviously delighted.
At the next meeting he referred to the new Mk60 engine, and then said something that had never occurred to us
‘What would happen if we put this engine in a Spitfire?”
It was blindingly obvious that the Spitfire was the true home for the engine, and it had been left to Hs to suggest it. We sat back aghast and silent.
Dory said, “I don’t know, but we will dammed soon find out. I will start work on putting one into the Spit immediately’.
Proof of the pudding was really in flying the engine. Although we could predict the power at 30,000ft, we would only know the real answer in the air. In due course, two engines were installed in a Wellington and the first flight was made from Hucknall.
That day he Hs (Ernest Hives) sent for me. I went to his office and he asked, “What do you say the full-throttle height of the two-stage Merlin is?”
Nervously, I replied, “I calculate it to be 30,000ft, approximately”.
He passed me a piece of paper, and on it was written just 29,750. He said, “I have just taken that figure from Dorey taken on the first flight of the Wellington”. He never indulged on complements, but was obviously delighted.
At the next meeting he referred to the new Mk60 engine, and then said something that had never occurred to us
‘What would happen if we put this engine in a Spitfire?”
It was blindingly obvious that the Spitfire was the true home for the engine, and it had been left to Hs to suggest it. We sat back aghast and silent.
Dory said, “I don’t know, but we will dammed soon find out. I will start work on putting one into the Spit immediately’.