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The Armstrong Siddeley Mamba was a British
turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
engine produced by
Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following t ...
in the late 1940s and 1950s, producing around 1,500 effective horsepower (1,100 kW). Armstrong Siddeley gas turbine engines were named after
snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...
s.


Design and development

The Mamba was a compact engine with a 10-stage
axial compressor An axial compressor is a gas compressor that can continuously pressurize gases. It is a rotating, airfoil-based compressor in which the gas or working fluid principally flows parallel to the axis of rotation, or axially. This differs from other ...
, six
combustion chamber A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process. Intern ...
s and a two-stage power turbine. The epicyclic reduction gearbox was incorporated in the propeller spinner. Engine starting was by cartridge. The
Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for airc ...
designation was ASMa (Armstrong Siddeley Mamba). The ASMa.3 gave 1,475 ehp and the ASMa.6 was rated at 1,770 ehp. A 500-hour test was undertaken in 1948 and the Mamba was the first turboprop engine to power the
Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper versi ...
, when in 1949, a Dakota
testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental res ...
was converted to take two Mambas. The Mamba was also developed into the form of the Double Mamba, which was used to power the
Fairey Gannet The Fairey Gannet is a carrier-borne aircraft that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed for the Royal Navy, being the first fixed-wing aircraft to combine both the search an ...
anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
aircraft for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
. This was essentially two Mambas lying side-by-side and driving
contra-rotating propellers Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers, also referred to as CRP, coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single piston or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propell ...
separately through a common gearbox. A
turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a ...
version of the Mamba was developed as the
Armstrong Siddeley Adder The Armstrong Siddeley ASA.1 Adder was an early British turbojet engine developed by the Armstrong Siddeley company and first run in November 1948. Design and development The Adder, a turbojet derivative of the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba, was or ...
, by removing the reduction gearbox.Gunston 1989, p.20.


Variants and applications

;ASMa.3 Mamba: :
Armstrong Whitworth Apollo The Armstrong Whitworth AW.55 Apollo was a 1940s British four-engine turboprop airliner built by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton. The aircraft was in competition with the Vickers Viscount but was beset with engine problems and only two were bui ...
:
Avro Athena The Avro 701 Athena is a British advanced trainer aircraft built by Avro in the late 1940s. It was designed to replace the North American Harvard in the Royal Air Force, but was bought only in small numbers, the competing Boulton Paul Ballio ...
:
Boulton Paul Balliol The Boulton Paul Balliol and Sea Balliol are monoplane advanced trainer aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Boulton Paul Aircraft. On 17 May 1948, it became the world's first single-engined turboprop aircraft to ...
:
Breguet Vultur Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...
: Miles M.69 Marathon II :
Douglas C-47 Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft A military transport aircraft, military cargo aircraft or airlifter is a military-owned transport aircraft used to su ...
:
Short SB.3 The Short Sturgeon was a planned British carrier-borne reconnaissance bomber whose development began during Second World War with the S.6/43 requirement for a high-performance torpedo bomber, which was later refined into the S.11/43 require ...
;ASMa.5 Mamba:Development engine for Armstrong Siddeley ASMD.3 Double Mamba ;ASMa.6 Mamba: :
Short Seamew The Short SB.6 Seamew was a British aircraft designed in 1951 by David Keith-Lucas of Short Brothers, Shorts as a lightweight anti-submarine platform to replace the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, Fleet Air Arm (FAA)'s Grumman Avenger, Grumman Aveng ...
;ASMa.7 Mamba:A version for civil applications ;Swiss-Mamba SM-1 (aft turbofan variant) :
EFW N-20 The EFW N-20 Aiguillon (in ) was Switzerland's first indigenous jet fighter project. The Swiss Federal Aircraft Factory developed a design for a four-engined swept winged fighter following the end of the Second World War. An unpowered sub-scale N-2 ...
;Mamba 112: (ASMa.6)


Engines on display

An Armstrong Siddeley Mamba is on static display at the Midland Air Museum,
Coventry Airport Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...
,
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...
, at the
Royal Air Force Museum Cosford The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a free (currently, 2022) museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departme ...
and at the
East Midlands Aeropark East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () no ...
. A Mamba is also on display at the
Aviation Heritage Museum (Western Australia) The Aviation Heritage Museum is a museum created and maintained by the RAAF Association of Western Australia. It houses many military and civilian aircraft, aircraft replicas and aircraft engines, of types that have served in the Royal Australi ...
. A Swiss-Mamba SM-1 is on display at the
Flieger-Flab-Museum The Flieger Flab Museum (English: Swiss Air Force Museum) is located in the Canton of Zurich in Dübendorf on the grounds of Dübendorf Air Base. In the museum, 40 airplanes and helicopters are displayed, with the collection divided into dist ...
Dübendorf. A Mamba is also on display at the Hertha Ayrton STEM Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.


Specifications (ASMa.6)


See also


References


Bibliography

* *


External links

* * {{Armstrong Siddeley aeroengines 1940s turboprop engines Mamba Axial-compressor gas turbine engines