Rolls-Royce Peregrine Rolls-Royce Peregrine The Rolls-Royce Peregrine was a , liquid-cooled V-12 aero engine designed and built by the British manufacturer Rolls-Royce in the late 1930s. It was essentially the ultimate development of the company's Kestrel engine, which had seen widespread use in military aircraft of the pre-war period. Due to the wartime priority of Rolls-Royce Merlin development and production, the Peregrine saw limited use and was cancelled with only 301 engines being built. During the 1930s the use of superchargers to increase "effective displacement" of an aircraft engine came into common use. Charging of some form was a requirement for high-altitude
Rolls-Royce Limited engine. When World War I broke out in August 1914, Rolls-Royce (and many others) were taken by surprise. As a manufacturer of luxury cars, Rolls-Royce was immediately vulnerable, and Claude Johnson thought the bank would withdraw its overdraft facility on which Rolls-Royce depended at that time. Nevertheless, believing that war was likely to be short-lived the directors initially decided not to seek government work making aero engines. However, this position was quickly reversed and Rolls-Royce was persuaded by the War Office to manufacture fifty air-cooled V8 engines under licence from Renault. Meanwhile, the Royal Aircraft Factory asked Rolls-Royce to design