The Rolls-Royce RB.53 Dart is a

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 designed and manufactured by

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...

. First run in 1946, it powered the

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Vi ...

on its maiden flight in 1948. A flight on July 29 of that year, which carried 14 paying passengers between

Northolt Northolt is a town in West London, England, spread across both sides of the A40 trunk road. It is west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the seven major towns that make up the London Borough of Ealing. It had a population of 30,304 at ...

and Paris–Le Bourget Airport in a Dart-powered Viscount, was the first regularly scheduled airline flight by a turbine-powered aircraft.Turner 1968, p. 9. The Viscount was the first turboprop-powered aircraft to enter airline service -

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

(BEA) in 1953. The Dart was still in production forty years later when the last

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Eur ...

s and

Hawker Siddeley HS 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption by Hawker Siddele ...

s were produced in 1987. Following the company's convention for naming gas turbine engines after rivers, this turboprop engine design was named after the

River Dart The River Dart is a river in Devon, England, that rises high on Dartmoor and flows for to the sea at Dartmouth. Name Most hydronyms in England derive from the Brythonic language (from which the river's subsequent names ultimately derive fr ...

History

Designed in 1946 by a team led by Lionel Haworth, the Dart had a two-stage centrifugal compressor design derived from the earlier Rolls-Royce Clyde. The Dart was initially rated at 890 shp and first flew in October 1947 mounted to the nose of a converted

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stir ...

. Improvements in the design boosted power output to 1,400 shp in the RDa.3, which went into production for the Viscount in 1952. The RDa.6 increased power to 1,600 shp and the RDa.7 to 1,800 shp by adding another compressor stage."World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines – 5th edition" by

Bill Gunston Bill Gunston (1 March 1927 – 1 June 2013) was a British aviation and military author. He flew with Britain's Royal Air Force from 1945 to 1948, and after pilot training became a flying instructor. He spent most of his adult life doing resear ...

, Sutton Publishing, 2006, p.195 Later Darts were rated up to 3,245 ehp and remained in production until 1987, with approximately 7,100 produced, flying some 170 million hours. The Dart was also produced under licence in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.Taylor 1982, p. 736. Haworth and his team later went on to design and develop the larger and more powerful

Rolls-Royce Tyne The Rolls-Royce RB.109 Tyne is a twin-shaft turboprop engine developed in the mid to late 1950s by Rolls-Royce Limited to a requirement for the Vickers Vanguard airliner. It was first test flown during 1956 in the nose of a modified Avro Linc ...

Variants

As well as the RB.53 designation each mark of Dart engine was allocated a

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 ...

(MoS) "RDa.n" number as well as Mk.numbers. ;RDa.1: Initial prototype engines – 1,250 shp plus 300lb residual thrust ;RDa.2: Initial production engines ;RDa.3: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 14,500 rpm ;RDa.6: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 14,500 rpm ;RDa.7: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 15,000 rpm ;RDa.7/1: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 15,000 rpm ;RDa.7/2: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 15,000 rpm ;RDa.7 Mk 21: estimated power - used for

Bréguet 1050 Alizé The Bréguet Br.1050 Alizé (French: "Tradewind") is a French carrier-based anti-submarine warfare aircraft. It was developed in the 1950s, based loosely on the second prototype Bréguet Vultur attack aircraft which had been modified into the ...

;RDa.7/2 Mk.529: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 15,000 rpm ;RDa.10: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 15,000 rpm ;RDa.10/1: estimated power – shaft power + residual thrust at 15,000 rpm ;RDa.10/1: estimated power at 15,000 rpm, with Water/Methanol injection for the Hawker-Siddeley HS.748MF Andover C Mk.1. ;RDa.11: ;Mk.506: (RDa.3) ;Mk.510: (RDa.6) ;Mk.511: (RDa.6) ;Mk.512: (RDa.6) ;Mk.514: (RDa.6) ;Mk.520: (RDa.7) ;Mk.525: (RDa.7/1) ;Mk.526: (RDa.7/2) ;Mk.527: (RDa.7/2) ;Mk.528: (RDa.7/2) ;Mk.529: (RDa.7/2) ;Mk.530: (RDa.7/2) ;Mk.531: (RDa.7/2) ;Mk.551: (RDa.7) ;Mk.552: (RDa-7) ;Mk.540: (RDa.10) ;Mk.541: (RDa.11) ;Mk.542: (RDa.10/1)

Applications

Largely associated with the very successful

medium-range

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ai ...

, it powered a number of other European and Japanese designs of the 1950s and 60s and was also used to convert American-manufactured piston aircraft to turboprop power. The list includes: *

Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was a British post-war transport/cargo aircraft; it was the final aircraft to be designed and produced by aviation company Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although given different internal design numbers, the ''AW. ...

: Medium-range transport *

Aviation Traders Accountant The Aviation Traders ATL-90 Accountant was a 1950s British twin-engined 28-passenger turboprop airliner built at Southend Airport England by Aviation Traders, a member of the airline and aircraft engineering group controlled by Freddie Laker. ...

: Cancelled prototype airliner * Avro 748 (Hawker Siddeley H.S. 748) : Feeder airliner. *

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 ...

one prototype aircraft only : Military trainer * Breguet Alizé : Anti-submarine aircraft: Dart RDa 21 2099 hp with water/methanol injection * Cavalier Turbo Mustang III * Fairchild F-27 : Small airliner, U.S. manufactured version of the

. Two versions: F27A and F27B * Fairchild Hiller FH-227 : Airliner, U.S. manufactured version of the Fairchild F-27 featuring a stretched fuselage with increased passenger seating *

: Small airliner from Dutch aerospace and aviation manufacturer

Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

. The original model on which several other airliners were based (such as the abovementioned F-27 and FH-227). *

Grumman Gulfstream I The Grumman Gulfstream I (company designation G-159) is a twin-turboprop business aircraft. It first flew on August 14, 1958. Design and development After first rejecting an idea to develop the Grumman Widgeon as an executive transport, the comp ...

(G-159) : Executive transport & small airliner. Includes the stretched Grumman Gulfstream I-C (G-159C). * Handley Page Dart Herald : Small airliner * Hawker Siddeley Andover : Military transport *

NAMC YS-11 The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC), a Japanese consortium. It was the only post-war airliner to be wholly designed and manufactured in Japan until the development of ...

: Short/medium range airliner (Japanese aircraft) * Some

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 ...

transport aircraft have been upgraded to use Darts. DC-3s in BEA service with this update were called Pionairs. Another conversion is the Conroy Turbo Three. * Convair 600 and

Convair 640 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

converted from

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

Convair 340 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

and

Convair 440 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

piston-powered aircraft: Small airliners * Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress : A unique one was converted by Aero-Flite Company with 4x Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines and was used for

fire fighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...

. Power output was around 1,500 hp (1,120 kW) in early versions, and close to twice that in later versions, such as those that powered the

airliner. Some versions of the engine were fitted with water methanol injection, which boosted power in hot and high altitude conditions.

Engines on display

*A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public display 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 ...

. *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on display at th
Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust
(Derby). *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public display at the Gatwick Aviation Museum. *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public display at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the N ...

. *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public display at Canadian Museum of Flight. *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public display at the

Australian National Aviation Museum The Moorabbin Air Museum is an aviation museum at Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1962 as the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group, in an attempt to maintain a World War II-era Bristol Beaufighter aircr ...

. *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public 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 Rolls-Royce Dart is on display at

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is an elite public high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is one of ...

Specifications (Dart RDa.7)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Gunston, Bill. ''World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines''. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66''. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company Ltd, 1965. * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83''. London: Jane's Yearbooks, 1982. . * Turner, P. St. John. ''Handbook of the Vickers Viscount''. London: Ian Allan, 1968. .

External links

Vickers Viscount and RR Dart history
a 1953 ''Flight'' article

a 1955 ''Flight'' article on the Dart

Fields Airmotive Dart Page with photos of Dart disassembled {{Rolls-Royce aeroengines

Dart Dart or DART may refer to: * Dart, the equipment in the game of darts Arts, entertainment and media * Dart (comics), an Image Comics superhero * Dart, a character from ''G.I. Joe'' * Dart, a ''Thomas & Friends'' railway engine character * Da ...

1940s turboprop engines Centrifugal-flow gas turbine engines