Rolls-Royce Merlin Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later called "Merlin" following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after birds of prey. After several modifications, the first production variants of the PV-12 were completed in 1936. The first operational aircraft to enter service using the Merlin were the Fairey Battle, Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. The Merlin remains most closely associated with the Spitfire and
Rolls-Royce V8 engine later taken back by the factory and scrapped. The other two were used for factory transport or display purposes. Rolls ordered three more chassis for delivery in 1906 but there is no evidence these were ever made. No example of a 1905 V-8 car or engine is known to survive. Although the 1905 V-8 cannot be judged a success, lessons learned from the engine were used in subsequent Rolls-Royce engine designs. Having used straight six, straight eight and V-12 engines in the interim period, the need for another new engine was recognised in the early 1950s. Development of a totally