The British Experience of the Salmson Aero Engine 1911–1918: a Case Study in Technology Transfer

NOTES AND REFERENCES

• Overviews of the state of the British aero engine and aircraft industries are provided by A Short History of the RAF (Air Ministry, 1936), H. A. Jones, The War in the Air (Volume III), (Oxford, 1931), and A. Nahum, The Rotary Aero Engine, (HMSO, London, 1987).
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• The engine is a nine-cylinder vertical radial, type M9. The Science Museum inventory number is 1920-42.
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• C. Draper, The Salmson Story, (David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1974), pp. 11–12.
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• A French patent application was lodged by Canton and Unné for their engine on 15 December 1908, and an application (number 27,672) followed in Britain on 27 November 1909. Interestingly the patent specification describes a contra-rotating rotary engine with two propellers of opposite pitch, one fixed to the crankcase and the other to the crankshaft. This idea cannot have been successful in realisation, as the static radial pattern was adopted in production Salmson engines.
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• J. G. G. Hempson, 'The Aero Engine up to 1914', Transactions of the Newcomen Society, Vol. 53 ( 1981–82), p. 44.
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• Flight, 1910, pp. 886, 902.
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• Flight, 1914, pp. 191–3.
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• A. Bodemer and R. Laugier, Les Moteurs a Pistons Aeronautiques Fran çais (1900/1960), (Editions Larivière, Paris, 1987), Vol. 1, pp. 133–8, 144–6; and C. Draper, op. cit. (3), pp. 14–5, 161–2.
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• G. D. Angle, Airplane Engine Encyclopedia, (Otterbein Press, Dayton, 1921), p. 441; and C. Draper, op. cit. (3), pp. 11–12.
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• The following section draws on C. H. Gibbs-Smith, Aviation [-I An Historical Survey, (HMSO, London, second edition 1985), pp. 148–70; H. Penrose, British Aviation [-] The Pioneer Years 1903–1914, (Putnam, London, 1967), chapters 8–12.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works Limited, note outlining the history of Dudbridge involvement with Salmson aero engines, 14 February 1917; J. S. Irving, report of engine test carried out on 15 May 1912. Both National Aeronautical Collection, Science Museum.
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• J. M. Bruce, The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing), (Putnam, London, 1982), pp. 11–13.
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• Flight, 1914, pp. 442–8.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works, op. cit. (11).
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• R. L. Rose, "The Industrial History of Dudbridge", The Newsletter of the Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology, No. 8 ( August 1966), pp. 33–4; and "Some Textile Machinery Makers of Stroud", The Newsletter of the Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology, No. 13 (February 1969), p. 12.
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• The Engineer, 1902, pp. 296–7.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works, op. cit. (11).
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• J. G. G. Hempson, op. cit. (5), p. 52.
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• Flight, 1913, p. 990.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works, op. cit. (11).
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• Flight, 1914, p. 1059.
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• Letter, Miss Platt to Mr. Peter Mann, Science Museum,28 November 1977. ScM 6472/3808.
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• Flight, 1914, pp. 306–7, 336–7.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works, Ltd., Salmson Aero-Engines, (Dudbridge Iron Works, Ltd., Stroud, nd). The catalogue comprises brochures for the M7 and M9 engines, 2M7 engine, type B engine, type D engine, and 'Aviation Engines "Salmson" containing general information. It presumably dates from early-mid 1914, prior to the licensing of engine manufacture to Willans and Robinson, as this is nowhere men-tioned.
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• The 600 horsepower engine was described byFlight, 1914, p. 936, as 'an engine for the aeroplane of the future'. It consisted of a pair of 300 horsepower D9 type engines arranged back to back onto a cen-tral gear box, and was envisaged driving twin propellers through shafting and bevel gears.
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• G. A. Burls, Aero Engines, (Charles Griffin, London, third edition 1916), p. 92.
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• Ibid., p. 118, 162.
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• I am most grateful to my colleague Mr. Peter Turvey for providing me with an insight into the manu-facturing characteristics of Willans and Robinson.
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• Memorandum of Agreement between Dudbridge Iron Works, and Willans and Robinson, 1 July 1914. National Aeronautical Collection, Science Museum.
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• I am most grateful to Mr. Robert Cox, historian of Willans and Robinson, for bringing this agreement to my attention.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works, op. cit. (11).
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• H. A. Jones, op. cit. (1), Appendix VII, Table B [Output of Aero Engines]. Jones' figures were extrac-ted from a Ministry of Munitions of War paper Review of Munitions Output, 1914-1918.
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• The Royal Air Force came into being on 1 April 1918, combining the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
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• H. A. Jones, The War in the Air (Appendices), (Oxford, 1937), Appendix XLI (Disposition of aircraft and engines on charge of the Royal Air Force at 31st October 1918'), Table B (`Engines').
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• J. M. Bruce, op. cit. 1982, (12), pp. 234–8, 606–10, and O. Thetford, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, (Putnam, London, sixth edition 1991), pp. 437, 471.
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• Report, Main Points concerning Canton-Unné Engines in Voisin Biplane gathered from Salmon (sic) Works & Voisins' Testing Department, Lieutenant M. G. Christie, 3 July 1915. Public Record Office (PRO) AIR1/991/204/5/1207.
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• Correspondence relating to Salmson M9 engines, RFC (in France) and War Office, 21 August 1915–5 February 1916. PRO AIR1/991/204/5/1207.
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• A. Bodemer and R. Laugier, op. cit. (8), p. 133, footnote 3.
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• Correspondence relating to Salmson M9 engines (37), Letter from Brigadier General Commanding Royal Flying Corps in the field to Assistant Director of Military Aeronautics, War Office, London, 3 January 1916.
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• Willans and Robinson Limited, "Salmson" Aero Engines Canton-Unné System—M9 Type Working Instructions, ( nd), p. 5.
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• J. M. Bruce, British Aeroplanes 1914–18, (Putnam, London, 1957), passim, and O. Thetford, op. cit. (35).
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• J. M. Bruce, op. cit. (41), pp. 287–289.
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• Report for the Air Board on aero engines in RNAS and RFC, Commander Briggs and Lt. Col. Cormack, 31 July 1916. PRO AIR 2/98/D17921.
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• The report identifies the engines by their power outputs, and somewhat confusingly includes Salmsons of 130, 135,140 and 150 hp.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works, General arrangement drawing number S13356 of type Z9 engine, 12 April 1917; Dudbridge Iron Works, report on performance of 250 hp Salmson engine type Z9, engine num-ber 10005 made by Dudbridge Iron Works, undated; Air Board, letter to Dudbridge Iron Works with results of a 3 hour test on a 250 hp Salmson engine carried out at the Royal Aircraft Factory, 7 September 1917. All National Aeronautical Collection, Science Museum.
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• J. M. Bruce, op. cit. (41), p. 151.
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• Ibid., pp.699–703. A. S. C. Lumsden op. cit. (44), p. 226 states that 36 9ZM (i.e. Z9) type engines were ordered and delivered for the prototype Vimy. This seems most unlikely given that, according to J. M. Bruce, only one prototype (serial number B. 9952) was fitted with twin Z type engines.
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• Dudbridge Iron Works, General arrangement drawingnumber 468 of type 18Z engine, 7 June 1918. National Aeronautical Collection, Science Museum.
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• R. L. Rose, 1966 op. cit. (15), p. 34.
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• D. Thirlby, The Chain-drive Frazer Nash, (Macdonald, London, 1965), pp. 15–34, and C. Draper, op. cit. (3), pp. 19–24.
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• R. C. Mikesh, Aircraft Engines in Museums Around the World, (National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C., 1982).
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