Rolls-Royce Pegasus
| Pegasus / F402 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Rolls-Royce Pegasus on display at the Royal Air Force Museum London | |
| Type | Turbofan |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Rolls-Royce |
| First run | September 1959 |
| Major applications |
Hawker Siddeley Harrier BAE Sea Harrier McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II |
| Number built | over 1,200 (through 2008) |
| Developed from | Bristol Siddeley Orpheus |
The Rolls-Royce Pegasus, formerly the Bristol Siddeley Pegasus, is a turbofan engine originally designed by Bristol Siddeley. It was manufactured by Rolls-Royce plc. The engine is not only able to power a jet aircraft forward, but also to direct thrust downwards via swivelling nozzles. Lightly loaded aircraft equipped with this engine can manoeuvre like a helicopter. In particular, they can perform vertical takeoffs and landings. In US service, the engine is designated F402.
The unique Pegasus engine powers all versions of the Harrier family of multi-role military aircraft. Rolls-Royce licensed Pratt & Whitney to build the Pegasus for US built versions. However Pratt & Whitney never completed any engines, with all new build being manufactured by Rolls-Royce in Bristol, England. The Pegasus was also the planned engine for a number of aircraft projects, among which were the prototypes of the German Dornier Do 31 VSTOL military transport project.
Michel Wibault, the French aircraft designer, had the idea to use vectored thrust for vertical take-off aircraft. This thrust would come from four centrifugal blowers shaft driven by a Bristol Orion turboprop, the exhaust from each blower being vectored by rotating the blower scrolls. Although the idea of vectoring the thrust was quite novel, the engine proposed was considered to be far too heavy.
As a result, an engineer at Bristol Engine Company, Gordon Lewis, began in 1956 to study alternative engine concepts, where possible, existing engine components from the Orpheus and Olympus engine series. The work was overseen by the Technical Director Stanley Hooker. One concept which looked promising was the BE52, which initially used the Orpheus 3 as the engine core and, on a separate coaxial shaft, the first 2 stages of an Olympus 21 LP compressor, which acted as a fan, delivering compressed air to 2 thrust vectoring nozzles at the front of engine. At this point in design exercise, the exhaust from the LP turbine discharged through a conventional rear nozzle. There were separate intakes for the fan and core compressor because the fan did not supercharge the core compressor.
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