In all of our previous jotting’s we have concentrated mainly on motorcars and aircraft, this week we take a look at aero engines. During the First World War Siddeley-Deasy started to produce Royal Aircraft Factory designed aero-engines and eventually built their version of the inefficient BHP engine which became known as the Puma. Following the war, several new radial engines were introduced by Armstrong Siddeley (Siddeley-Deasy’s successor) one of which was the Cheetah.
Avro Anson equipped with Cheetah engines.
The Cheetah was introduced in 1933 as a seven-cylinder air-cooled, one-row radial aero-engine of 13.66 litres (833.77 cc); this was a development of the
AS Lynx Major engine with an increased bore. It continued in production through to 1948 when over 37,200 had been produced and fitted to over twenty different types of aircraft. It was an extremely reliable engine and as such, it was the first engine of its type to be certified for 1,200 hours of operational time between overhauls.
Credit. The Aeroplane
It is certain the profits earned by the aero engine division assured that motor car production continued during the depression of the late 1920’s and early 30’s.