The Rolls-Royce RB.53 Dart is a

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 designed and manufactured by

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce Limited 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 Crane ( ...

. First run in 1946, it powered the

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a retired 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. T ...

on its maiden flight in 1948. A flight on July 29 of that year, which carried 14 paying passengers between Northolt 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 (BEA) in 1953. The Dart was still in production forty years later when the last Fokker F27 Friendships and

Hawker Siddeley HS 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (formerly Avro 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 absorptio ...

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.

History

Designed in 1946 by a team led by Lionel Haworth, the Dart engine was derived using experience gained from the earlier more powerful Rolls-Royce Clyde turboprop. A two-stage centrifugal compressor was specified to achieve the desired overall pressure ratio. A 3 stage, shared load, axial turbine was used to drive both the load (via a reduction gearbox) and the compression system. A photo showing a cutaway section of typical Dart engine is given below. Unlike the Clyde, the engine lacked a free power turbine. Consequently, under normal operating conditions, the power delivered to the propeller could not be modulated at a fixed prop speed. 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, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, 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 ...

. 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 incorporating various improvements including a larger diameter second impeller. Later Darts were rated up to 3,245 shp and remained in production until 1987, with approximately 7,100 produced, flying some 170 million hours."World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines – 5th edition" by Bill Gunston, Sutton Publishing, 2006, p.195 The Dart was also produced under licence in India by

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian public sector aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bengaluru. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the world. H ...

.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 Linco ...

Variants

As well as the RB.53 designation each mark of Dart engine was allocated a Ministry of Supply (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 ;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 airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

, 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 : Medium-range transport * Aviation Traders Accountant : Cancelled prototype airliner * Avro 748 (Hawker Siddeley H.S. 748) : Feeder airliner. * Avro Athena 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 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 are versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined, turboprop, passenger aircraft formerly manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to ...

: Small airliner, U.S. manufactured version of the Fokker F27 Friendship. Two versions: F27A and F27B * Fairchild Hiller FH-227 : Airliner, U.S. manufactured version of the

featuring a stretched fuselage with increased passenger seating * Fokker F27 Friendship : Small airliner from Dutch aerospace and aviation manufacturer

Fokker Fokker (; ) was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1912 to 1996. The company was founded by the Dutch aviator Anthony Fokker and became famous during World War I for its fighter aircraft. During its most successful period in the 19 ...

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

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

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 ...

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 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 inroa ...

, Convair 340 and Convair 440 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 a profession aimed at controlling and extinguishing fire. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter or fireman. Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training. This involves structural fir ...

. 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. *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 (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

. *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. *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public display at the Aviation Heritage Museum (Western Australia). *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 a public specialized high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is on ...

*A Rolls-Royce Dart RDa.7 is on public display at the

City of Norwich Aviation Museum The City of Norwich Aviation Museum is a volunteer-run museum and charitable trust dedicated to the preservation of the aviation history of the county of Norfolk, England. The museum is located on the northern edge of Norwich International ...

in Horsham St Faith, Norfolk. *A Rolls-Royce Dart is on public display at the Civil Aviation Trust Museum in Staplecross, East Sussex.

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 1940s turboprop engines Centrifugal-flow gas turbine engines