Rolls-Royce Meteorite Rolls-Royce Meteorite The Rolls-Royce Meteorite was a British V8 petrol or diesel engine of capacity, and was derived from the Rolls-Royce Meteor, which was itself based on the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. In essence it was two-thirds of a V12 Meteor and it shared the Meteor's 60° vee angle. Meteorites were built for vehicles, for marine use and as stationary power units. It powered the Thornycroft Antar or "Mighty Antar" tank transporter and was used to transport two types of Meteor-engined tanks, the Centurion and Conqueror (and also carried the later Chieftain). This association with the defence ministry lasted 21
Rolls-Royce Welland Minister of Aircraft Production and the Boards of Rover and Rolls-Royce, the Rover jet factory at Barnoldswick was exchanged for the Rolls-Royce Meteor tank engine factory in Nottingham. A handshake sealed the deal. Rover handed over a total of 32 W.2B/23 engines to Rolls-Royce as well as four "straight-through" W.2B/26 engines, developed by Rover's Adrian Lombard. The W.2B/23 became the RB.23 Welland and the W.2B/26 became the RB.26 Derwent. Adrian Lombard moved with the engines from Rover to Rolls-Royce. Stanley Hooker helped in the task of ironing out the remaining problems, and things soon improved. A flight-quality /23 was fitted