The Alvis Pelides was an unflown

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

air-cooled

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric) In mathematics, physics, and engineering, a Euclidean vector or simply a vector (sometimes called a geometric vector or spatial vector) ...

aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

first developed in 1936. The Pelides Major was a projected but unbuilt development as were the Alcides, Alcides Major and the Maeonides Major, the

Alvis Alvis may refer to: *Alvis Car and Engineering Company, British luxury car and military vehicle manufacturer which later became Alvis plc * Alvis plc (formerly United Scientific Holdings plc), a defence contractor which acquired Alvis Cars and bec ...

aircraft engine range taking their names from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

Design and development

The Pelides was the first aero engine of Alvis design; the company had previously only built the French

Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major The Gnome-Rhône 14K ''Mistral Major'' was a 14-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled radial engine. It was Gnome-Rhône's major aircraft engine prior to World War II, and matured into a highly sought-after design that would see licensed production ...

under license. With the two companies working closely together the 14 cylinder radial layout of this engine retained

metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathema ...

dimensions but substituted metric

screw thread A screw thread, often shortened to thread, is a helical structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force. A screw thread is a ridge wrapped around a cylinder or cone in the form of a helix, with the former being called a ...

s with British fasteners such as BSF and Whitworth. Material specifications were different as were the detail design of internal parts such as the

crankpin A crankpin or crank pin, also known as a rod bearing journal, is a mechanical device in an engine which connects the crankshaft to the connecting rod for each cylinder. It has a cylindrical surface, to allow the crankpin to rotate relative to the ...

. The Pelides passed a 50-hour

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

type test in 1937 where it produced 1,065 hp (794 kW) but no aircraft application was found and only 15 engines were built. The onset of the Second World War caused the abandonment of any further development of the Pelides and its related designs.Lumsden 2003, p.56.

Variants (projected)

;Pelides: 2-row 14-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, d/d, 13:19 or 0.5:1. ;Pelides Major:The Pelides Major was a version retaining the same dimensions as the Pelides but with improvements to the

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

, only built in small quantities for testing at . ;Alcides:The Alcides of 1937 was a powerful supercharged 18-cylinder two-row radial engine, with a power output of . 2-row 18-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, d/d, 13:19 or 0.5:1. ;Alcides Major:The Alcides Major was an improved supercharged version of the Alcides. ;Maeonides Major:Also designed in 1937, the supercharged Maeonides Major was effectively a smaller version of the Pelides with a power output of . 2-row 14-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, 5:7.

Specifications (Pelides)

References

Notes

Bibliography

''Flight'' magazine - 15 April 1937 (Flightglobal.com)
* Gunston, Bill. ''World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines''. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. * Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. .

External links

{{Alvis aeroengines Aircraft air-cooled radial piston engines Pelides 1930s aircraft piston engines