Slightly OT- Rolls Royce Nene-

Something hit me out of the blue just now- I always had heard that RR jets were named after rivers mainly. Where did the name Nene come from and it can't be from the Hawaiian state bird, can it? How does one pronounce Nene? I will not rest soundly until I know, so please tell me before my wife smacks me with a baseball bat so she can get some sleep-

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Pugs

Hi,

Nene is a river too - pronounced 'neen'.

Duncan

Probably, but most of the RR piston engines were named after birds or other flying things: Eagle, Kestral, Merlin, Peregrine, Vulture, Goshawk, Buzzard, Griffon--OTOH, the Exe is a river name.

Armstrong-Siddeley favored cats: Tiger, Jaguar, Panther, Serval, Cheetah, though they also had a Deerhound, Mongoose and Double Mongoose.

Napier went in for weapons: Sabre, Rapier, Dagger, Culverin.

Bristol liked planets and constellations: Mercury, Jupiter, Pegasus, Perseus, Taurus, Hercules, Centaurus, Aquila.

Fairey had the Prince, after which they stopped building engines, which is too bad, because it was a pretty decent engine, and it might have eventually been called "the engine formerly known as Prince."

Mark Schynert

Merlin ain't a jet, sonny. ;-)

RobG

R-R only named their jet engines after rivers. nought else.

Cheers Kev

RR Jets are Rivers

Bristol Jets are mythology

Olympus, Pegasus

River Nene River Avon River Trent River Derwent

Not all the way along. In Northamptonshire it's pronounced nen

Rolls named their piston engines after birds of prey; Merlin, Eagle, Kestrel , etc. Their turbine engines are named after rivers; Trent, Adour, Conway, etc. There are a few exceptions like Olympus and Pegasus which are actually Bristol designed engines. Bristol used mythological names for their engine; Centarus, Perseus, etc. Rolls picked up those engines in the consolidation of the British aero industry in the 60's and 70's.

Mark

So where's the river RB-211 then ??

You're right though....... off the top of my head - and in no particular order :-

Nene Derwent Trent (turboprop) Trent (By-pass) Dart Spey Avon Tyne Conway

Ken

baliff! whack his pee pee!

Don't forget the Clyde too. But wasn't the Exe a piston?

Duncan

Lockheed was celestial bodies for a while

Constellation, Starfire, Shooting star, Starfighter, Orion etc

Allen

Bloody hell! I didn't know people went back that far ?

Oh look a butterfly! Don't worry I'll kill it. Okay nurse, wrap him up again.

Richard.

we go back pre john pertwee.

Yes, pressure air-cooled V-12, I believe.

Mark Schynert

But it really, REALLY, *REALLY!!* wanted to be a jet.

RobG

It's a tributary of the Severn!