This fire-breathing 27-liter 1,800-horsepower Roll-Royce Merlin aero engine famously powered the Spitfire, Hurricane, Mustang, Lancaster and Mosquito WW2 aircraft. It has been mounted on a trailer for demo purposes. It really is a sight to behold and feel when it shakes the ground around you.
One of the many highlights of the Silverstone Festival in Central England on 23-25 August 2024 will occur in the Festival Auction, where a Rolls-Royce Merlin Aero engine will be sold as one of the lots, with quite humble expectations of £50,000 (US$63,000) for the special trailer-mounted, fully-functional engine.
The quite unique and absolutely enchanting aspect of this particular engine is its ability to start and run as a display unit and just what an awesome beast this engine is, as beautifully demonstrated by this video.
The 27-liter V12 Rolls-Royce Merlin engine is named after the “bird of prey” rather than the magician, but stand up close to one of these things when it hums along and you’ll be hard pressed not to feel at least a little magic. It started out with 1,000 bhp in prototype form but most of those made were producing between 1,800 bhp and 2,000 bhp.
This engine lives up to its legend more so in person than any other.
As impressive and awe-inspiring as it is to watch a Watt steam engine or a powerful steam train or a Wartsilla two-stroke diesel ship engine do their thing, those engines were quietened and civilized and … tamed … before they were put to work by mankind.
The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was conceived as a fighter aircraft engine and they weren’t concerned about anything but horsepower.
The Merlin was supposed to spend its operational life at altitudes where it didn’t matter how much noise it made, but it was found to be so powerful and reliable that it was soon also powering armored tanks and MTB (patrol boats).
In its original uncivilized form it powered the aircraft which became household words during WW2 - the Spitfire, the Hurricane and the Mustang fighter aircraft and it was also used in numbers in the much larger Lancaster and Mosquito bomber aircraft.
Unmuffled with flame-belching from the near-open exhaust ports, this engine is an awe-inspiring beast if you are nearby when it starts, and this trailer-mounted example can be started in-situ anywhere.
By the time the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was retired from active warlord duty, more than 170,000 had been made.
