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 RB3011 Rolls-Royce RB3011 The Rolls-Royce RB3011 (previously designated RB2011) is a prototype propfan engine in development by Rolls-Royce plc. The design is also known as an "open rotor" engine. The RB3011 is designed for the 180-300 passenger aircraft (e.g. Boeing 737 or Airbus A320). Rolls-Royce bought the Allison Engine Company in 1995, and has studied the Pratt & Whitney/Allison 578-DX propfan engine built in the 1980s. The engine has two contra-rotating rotors (fans) on the outside of the engine nacelle, either at the front of the assembly ("tractor") or at the rear ("pusher"). Both pusher and tractor open rotor designs form