Rolls-Royce Limited its unreliable Rolls-Royce Vulture engines), Vickers Wellington (twin-engine); it also transformed the American North American P-51 Mustang into a competitor for the best fighter of its time, its engine a Merlin engine built by Packard under licence. Over 160,000 Merlin engines were produced, including over 30,000 by the Ford Motor Company at Trafford Park, Manchester. During the war most Rolls-Royce flight testing of engines was carried out from Hucknall Aerodrome. The Merlin crossed over into military land-vehicle use as the Meteor powering the Centurion tank among others. Many Meteor engines used engine blocks and parts that failed requirements for high
Rolls-Royce Trent April 1996. Initially Rolls-Royce had difficulty selling the engine; British Airways, traditionally a Rolls-Royce customer, submitted a large order for the competing General Electric GE90 engine. The breakthrough came when it won orders from Singapore Airlines, a staunch Pratt & Whitney customer, for its 34 Boeing 777s. The Trent 800 has a 41% share of the engine market on the 777 variants for which it is available. In 1998 Boeing proposed new longer range variants of the 777. Taking advantage of the Trent 800's growth capability, Rolls-Royce designed and built an improved engine designated "Trent 8104", which was later scaled