Tyne | |
---|---|
Rolls-Royce Tyne installed in a Luftwaffe C-160 | |
Type | Turboprop |
Manufacturer | Rolls-Royce Limited |
First run | April 1955 |
Major applications |
Breguet Atlantic Canadair CL-44 Transall C-160 Vickers Vanguard |
The Rolls-Royce RB.109 Tyne is a twin-shaft turboprop engine developed in the mid to late 1950s by Rolls-Royce Limited. It was first test flown during 1956 in the nose of a modified Avro Lincoln. Following company naming convention for gas turbine engines this turboprop design was named after the River Tyne.
Designed in 1954 by a team under Lionel Haworth and intended as a more powerful alternative to the Dart, the RB.109 Tyne was initially designed for a power of 2,500 shp but when first run in April 1955 the engine far exceeded expectations and was soon being type-tested at 4,220 shp. The Tyne was developed primarily for the four-engined Vickers Vanguard airliner, the prototype first flying on 20 January 1959 equipped with four Tyne Mk.506 of 4,985 e.s.h.p. Production deliveries of the engine were made from mid-1959 onwards to power the 43 Vanguards delivered to British European Airways and Trans-Canada Airlines.
The engine was further developed with greater power and used in the later twin-engined Dassault-Breguet Atlantique long-range reconnaissance aircraft; also in the Canadair CL-44 and Transall C-160 transport aircraft.
A single stage HP turbine drives the nine-stage HP compressor. A three-stage LP turbine drives the six-stage LP compressor and, through a reduction gearbox, the propeller. The combustor is cannular..
The Mark 515 Tyne had a nominal takeoff power output of 5,730 hp (4,273 kW) equivalent power, flat rated to ISA+16.8C.
An agreement was signed in 1963 between Hispano-Suiza and Rolls-Royce for the licence production of the Tyne for the Breguet Atlantic and Transall C-160. Each company that is part of the agreement will build parts for itself and the partners, Rolls-Royce (United Kingdom) 20%, Hispano-Suiza (France) 44%, MAN (Germany) 28% and FN (Belgium) 8%. The final assembly will be undertaken by both MAN and Hispano-Suiza. The first production batch was for 80 engines and 40 spares for the Atlantic.