The Armstrong Siddeley Mamba was a British

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

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 reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have 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 air–fuel ratio, fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the Firebox (steam engine), firebox which is used to allow a mo ...

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 on 1 August 1939 by the Ministry of Supply Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 38) to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Ministe ...

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 the 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 ...

, 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, computing tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental research ...

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 weapon ...

aircraft for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. This was essentially two Mambas lying side-by-side and driving

contra-rotating propellers Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers (CRP) coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single engine piston powered or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propellers i ...

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, and ...

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 o ...

, by removing the reduction gearbox.Gunston 1989, p.20.

Variants and applications

Douglas C-47B Mamba Dakota KJ839 A-S Coventry 06

;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 bu ...

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 Balli ...

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 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 * Breguet Aviation, ...

: Miles M.69 Marathon II :

Douglas C-47 Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

Short SB.3 The Short Sturgeon was a planned United Kingdom, British carrier-borne photo-reconnaissance, reconnaissance bomber whose development began during World War II, Second World War with the S.6/43 requirement for a high-performance torpedo bomber, ...

;ASMa.5 Mamba:Development engine for Armstrong Siddeley ASMD.3 Double Mamba ;ASMa.6 Mamba: : Short Seamew ;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 ...

;Mamba 112: (ASMa.6)

Engines on display

Surviving Mambas are on display in the UK at the

Midland Air Museum The Midland Air Museum (MAM) is situated just outside the village of Baginton in Warwickshire, England, and is adjacent to Coventry Airport. The museum includes the ''Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre'' (named after the local aviation pi ...

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 Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

and the

East Midlands Aeropark East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln northeast. It serves the majority of the East ...

. Another example is to be found at the Hertha Ayrton STEM Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, UK and a Mamba Mk 110 (serial number 654606 - ZP3043, believed originally flown in a Short Seamew) is on loan from the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust to BAE Systems at

Farnborough Airport Farnborough Airport (previously called: TAG Farnborough Airport, RAE Farnborough, ICAO Code EGLF) is an operational business/executive general aviation airport in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England. The airport covers about 8% of Rus ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. Overseas, a Swiss-Mamba SM-1 is displayed 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 distin ...

Dübendorf in Switzerland and another Mamba can be seen at the

Aviation Heritage Museum (Western Australia) The Aviation Heritage Museum is a museum located in Bull Creek, Perth, Western Australia. Created and maintained by the Air Force Association of Western Australia, it houses many military and civilian aircraft, aircraft replicas and aircraft en ...

Specifications (ASMa.6)

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{Armstrong Siddeley aeroengines 1940s turboprop engines

Mamba Mambas are fast-moving, highly venomous snakes of the genus ''Dendroaspis'' (which literally means "tree asp") in the family Elapidae. Four extant species are recognised currently; three of those four species are essentially arboreal and gre ...

Axial-compressor gas turbine engines