The Armstrong Siddeley Mamba was a British

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

engine produced by Armstrong Siddeley in the late 1940s and 1950s, producing around 1,500 effective horsepower (1,100 kW). Armstrong Siddeley gas turbine engines were named after

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

Design and development

The Mamba was a compact engine with a 10-stage

axial compressor An axial compressor is a gas compressor that can continuously pressurize gases. It is a rotating, airfoil-based compressor in which the gas or working fluid principally flows parallel to the axis of rotation, or axially. This differs from other ...

, six

combustion chamber A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process. Interna ...

s and a two-stage power turbine. The epicyclic reduction gearbox was incorporated in the propeller spinner. Engine starting was by cartridge. The

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

designation was ASMa (Armstrong Siddeley Mamba). The ASMa.3 gave 1,475 ehp and the ASMa.6 was rated at 1,770 ehp. A 500-hour test was undertaken in 1948 and the Mamba was the first turboprop engine to power the

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

, when in 1949, a Dakota

testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental rese ...

was converted to take two Mambas. The Mamba was also developed into the form of the Double Mamba, which was used to power the Fairey Gannet

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

aircraft for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. This was essentially two Mambas lying side-by-side and driving contra-rotating propellers separately through a common gearbox. A

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

version of the Mamba was developed as the Armstrong Siddeley Adder, by removing the reduction gearbox.Gunston 1989, p.20.

Variants and applications

Douglas C-47B Mamba Dakota KJ839 A-S Coventry 06

;ASMa.3 Mamba: : Armstrong Whitworth Apollo :

Avro Athena The Avro 701 Athena is a British advanced trainer aircraft built by Avro in the late 1940s. It was designed to replace the North American Harvard in the Royal Air Force, but was bought only in small numbers, the competing Boulton Paul Balliol ...

Boulton Paul Balliol The Boulton Paul Balliol and Sea Balliol are monoplane advanced trainer aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Boulton Paul Aircraft. On 17 May 1948, it became the world's first single-engined turboprop aircraft to ...

Breguet Vultur Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

: Miles M.69 Marathon II : Douglas C-47 Dakota :

Short SB.3 The Short Sturgeon was a planned British carrier-borne reconnaissance bomber whose development began during Second World War with the S.6/43 requirement for a high-performance torpedo bomber, which was later refined into the S.11/43 requireme ...

;ASMa.5 Mamba:Development engine for Armstrong Siddeley ASMD.3 Double Mamba ;ASMa.6 Mamba: : Short Seamew ;ASMa.7 Mamba:A version for civil applications ;Swiss-Mamba SM-1 (aft turbofan variant) : EFW N-20 ;Mamba 112: (ASMa.6)

Engines on display

An Armstrong Siddeley Mamba is on static display at the

Midland Air Museum The Midland Air Museum (MAM) is situated just outside the village of Baginton in Warwickshire, England, and is adjacent to Coventry Airport. The museum includes the ''Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre'' (named after the local aviation pione ...

Coventry Airport Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford and at the

East Midlands Aeropark East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () north ...

. A Mamba is also on display at the

Aviation Heritage Museum (Western Australia) The Aviation Heritage Museum is a museum created and maintained by the RAAF Association of Western Australia. It houses many military and civilian aircraft, aircraft replicas and aircraft engines, of types that have served in the Royal Australia ...

. A Swiss-Mamba SM-1 is on display at the Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf. A Mamba is also on display at the Hertha Ayrton STEM Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

Specifications (ASMa.6)

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{Armstrong Siddeley aeroengines 1940s turboprop engines

Mamba Mambas are fast moving highly venomous snakes of the genus ''Dendroaspis'' (which literally means "tree Asp (reptile), asp") in the family Elapidae. Four Neontology, extant species are recognised currently; three of those four species are essen ...

Axial-compressor gas turbine engines