KELPkid From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 5929 posts, RR: 4 Reply 1, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1892 times:
As I recall, RR gave jet engines the names of rivers in the UK, Trent being one, Conway and Spey being others...Olympus, however, was inherited from Bristol (IIRC), so that's why that one is that way (not a river name...). Not sure why the RB.211 was never given a river name-IIRC, RB.211 was the internal development designation for the engine within Rolls-Royce.
Celebrating the birth of KELPkidJR on August 5, 2009 :-)
Prebennorholm From Denmark, joined Mar 2000, 6016 posts, RR: 55 Reply 2, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1859 times:
Quoting KELPkid (Reply 1): ...RR gave jet engines the names of rivers in the UK...
Right, and I think that they didn't only give them river names, but also appropriate river names.
Those who have seen the river Avon at its fall down to the Bristol Channel, they will know that it is a very narrow, fast running and noisy river. Just like the RR Avon engine.
On the other hand the river Trent is a very large and wide river which for centuries has been effetively utilized for heavy transports.
Always keep your number of landings equal to your number of take-offs, Preben Norholm
TepidHalibut From Iceland, joined Dec 2004, 206 posts, RR: 6 Reply 3, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 1619 times:
Are you aware of why they have river names?
The original RR Piston engines were names after birds, and there was a certain symmetry between the reciprocating pistons and the flapping of wings. When the jet engine was developed, the smooth continuous flow of the airflow was very different from the piston engine flows - more like the flow of a river in fact. Seems like an obvious choice, really.
The Trent flows close to Derby which is where the Trent was developed. Even closer is the Derwent, and that has been used before. Also close is the River Dove, but I guess that'll be saved for some weird piston / turbofan hybrid ;o)
As for why the RB211 remained the RB211 - I was told that the river names was felt to be too parochial by the sales department. Again there's a bit of symmetry in naming styles - Viscounts with Darts - vs - L1011s with RB211s.
My understanding is that it was the association between rapidly flowing fluid in rivers and turbine engines. Also rivers commonly used to have waterwheels (which are a form of turbine) to extract shaft power.
The glass isn't half empty, or half full, it's twice as big as it needs to be.
Baroque From Australia, joined Apr 2006, 15380 posts, RR: 60 Reply 6, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1538 times:
Quoting Prebennorholm (Reply 2): Those who have seen the river Avon at its fall down to the Bristol Channel, they will know that it is a very narrow, fast running and noisy river. Just like the RR Avon engine.
We had this discussion some years ago. While that Avon (Bristol Avon) is the more dramatic, the contra is that it was right in the heart of Bristol country before RR took over Bristol engines. There are numerous R Avons in the UK the other famous one being that at Stratford - cue in the right Shakespearean quotation.
In a thread a couple of years ago, the RR aficionados did not seem certain which Avon it would have been. The Stratford one is closer to Barnoldswick - just!
And don't forget there were two Trents before the present series. The first was a turbo-prop (the main designer at RR thought that turbo-props were the only way to go!) and the second the RB203 designed to replace the Spey. The 203 was a 3 spool engine, the first of that configuration.
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