The Rolls-Royce Spey (company designations RB.163 and RB.168 and RB.183) is a low-bypass

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...

engine originally designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce that has been in widespread service for over 40 years. A co-development version of the Spey between Rolls-Royce and Allison in the 1960s is the Allison TF41. Intended for the civilian jet airliner market when it was being designed in the late 1950s, the Spey concept was also used in various military engines, and later as a

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust ...

engine for ships known as the Marine Spey, and even as the basis for a new civilian line, the

Rolls-Royce RB.183 Tay The Rolls-Royce RB.183 Tay is a medium-bypass turbofan engine, developed from the RB.183 Mk 555 Spey core and using a fan scaled directly from the Rolls-Royce RB.211-535E4 to produce versions with a bypass ratio of 3.1:1 or greater. The IP c ...

. Aviation versions of the base model Spey have accumulated over 50 million hours of flight time. In keeping with Rolls-Royce naming practices, the engine is named after the River Spey.

Design and development

In 1954 Rolls-Royce introduced the first commercial bypass engine, the Rolls-Royce Conway, with 17,500

lbf The pound of force or pound-force (symbol: lbf, sometimes lbf,) is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system. Pound-force should not be confused with pound-m ...

(78 kN) of thrust aimed at what was then the "large end" of the market. This was far too large for smaller aircraft such as the Sud Caravelle,

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

or Hawker Siddeley Trident which were then under design. Rolls-Royce then started work on a smaller engine otherwise identical in design derived from the larger RB.140/141 Medway - which itself had been cancelled after British European Airways (BEA) had demanded the downsizing of the Trident,"World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines - 5th edition" by Bill Gunston, Sutton Publishing, 2006, p.197 the RB.163, using the same two-spool compressor arrangement and a smaller fan delivering

bypass ratio The bypass ratio (BPR) of a turbofan engine is the ratio between the mass flow rate of the bypass stream to the mass flow rate entering the core. A 10:1 bypass ratio, for example, means that 10 kg of air passes through the bypass duct for ev ...

s of about 0.64:1. Designed by a team under Frederick Morley, the first versions of what had become the 'Spey' entered service in 1964, powering both the 1-11 and Trident. Several versions with higher power ratings were delivered through the 1960s, but development was ended nearing the 1970s due to the introduction of engines with much higher bypass ratios, and thus better fuel economy. In 1980, Turbomecanica

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

acquired the license for the Spey 512-14 DW version, which propelled the Romanian built

aircraft (Rombac One-Eleven). Spey-powered airliners remained in widespread service until the 1980s, when noise limitations in European airports forced them out of service.

Tailored for the Buccaneer and Corsair II

In the late 1950s the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

started the development of the Sverdlov-class cruisers that would put 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 ...

at serious risk. The Naval Air Warfare Division decided to counter this threat with a strike aircraft which would fly at very high speed at very low level. The winning design was the

Blackburn Buccaneer The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccanee ...

The first version of the Buccaneer, the S.1 powered by the de Havilland Gyron Junior, was underpowered in certain scenarios, although not in maximum speed, and the engine was unreliable. The Spey was chosen in 1960 as a re-engining option to give more thrust for a Buccaneer Mk.2. It was also predicted to increase range by 80%. The engine was a militarized version of the BAC 1-11 Spey, and called the RB.168-1. The Buccaneer S.2 served into the 1990s. A Spey derivative, designed and developed jointly by Rolls-Royce and Allison for the

LTV A-7 Corsair II The LTV A-7 Corsair II is an American carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV). The A-7 was developed during the early 1960s as replacement for the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Its design was ...

, was produced under licence in the United States as the TF41.

F-4K and M Phantom

The British versions of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II (designated Phantom FG.Mk.1 and FGR.Mk.2) replaced the 16,000 lb wet thrust

J79 The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile. The J79 was produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines in the United States, and under lice ...

turbojets with a pair of 20,515 lb wet thrust Spey 201 turbofans. These provided extra thrust for operation from smaller British aircraft carriers, and provided additional bleed air for the boundary layer control system for slower landing speeds. The air intake area was increased by twenty per cent, while the aft fuselage under the engines had to be redesigned. Compared to the original turbojets, the afterburning turbofans produced a ten and fifteen per cent improvement in combat radius and ferry range, respectively, and improved take-off, initial climb, and acceleration, but at the cost of a reduction in top speed because compressor outlet temperatures would be exceeded in an essentially subsonic civil design.

Reliability

During its lifetime the Spey has achieved an impressive safety record. Its relatively low maintenance costs provide one of the major reasons it remained in service even when newer designs were available. With the need for a 10,000 to 15,000 lbf (44 to 67 kN) thrust class engine, with better specific fuel consumption and lower noise and emission levels, Rolls-Royce used Spey turbomachinery with a much larger fan to produce the Rolls-Royce Tay.

AMX development

A fully updated version of the military RB.168 was also built to power the AMX International AMX attack aircraft.

Variants

;RB.141: ;RB.163-1: ;RB.163-2: ;RB.163-2W: ;RB.163 Mk.505-5: ;RB.163 Mk.505-14: ;RB.163 Mk.506-5: ;RB.163 Mk.506-14: ;RB.163 Mk.511-8:

Gulfstream II The Gulfstream II (G-II) is an American twin engine business jet designed and built by Grumman and then in succession, Grumman American and finally Gulfstream American. Its Grumman model number is G-1159 and its US military designation is C-11A. ...

and Gulfstream III (USAF designation F113-RR-100 for the Gulfstream C-20) ;RB.163 Mk.511-14:

;RB.163 Mk.512-14DW: BAC One-Eleven/Rombac One-Eleven ;AR 963: (RB.163)

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

(proposed); it was to have been built under licence by Allison ;F113-RR-100: US military designation for the Mk.511-8 engines fitted to the

Gulfstream C-20 The Gulfstream III, a business jet produced by Gulfstream Aerospace, is an improved variant of the Grumman Gulfstream II. Design and development The Gulfstream III was built at Savannah, Georgia, in the United States and was designed as an im ...

. ;RB.168-62: ;RB.168 Mk.101: (Military Spey)

S2 ;RB.168 Mk.202: (Military Spey) McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II modified F-4J for British service ("Phantom FG1"). (Surplus engines were purchased and used by Richard Noble for the

Thrust SSC ThrustSSC, Thrust SSC or Thrust SuperSonic Car is a British jet car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers, and Jeremy Bliss. Thrust SSC holds the world land speed record, set on 15 October 1997, and driven by Andy Green, w ...

land speed record car of 1997.) ;RB.168 Mk.250: (Military Spey) Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR1/MR2 ;RB.168 Mk.251: (Military Spey) Hawker Siddeley Nimrod R1 and AEW ;RB.168 Mk.807: AMX International AMX, built under licence by FiatAvio ;AR 168R: Joint development with Allison Engine Company for the TFX competition (won by the Pratt & Whitney TF30 ;RB.183 Mk 555-15 Spey Junior: Fokker F28 Fellowship ;WS-9 Qinling:

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

license-produced version of the RB.168 Mk.202 manufactured by the Xi'an Aero-Engine Corporation. It was used to power the

Xian JH-7 The Xi'an JH-7 ( – fighter-bomber; NATO reporting name Flounder), also known as the FBC-1 (Fighter/Bomber China-1) Flying Leopard, is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine fighter-bomber in service with the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force ...

and JH-7A. An improved WS-9A developing of thrust is reportedly in development.

Marinised versions

;SM1A : Marinised Spey delivering 18,770 shp ;SM1C : Marinised Spey delivering 26,150 shp

Applications

* AMX International AMX * BAC One-Eleven/Rombac One-Eleven *

* Fokker F28 Fellowship * Grumman Gulfstream II * Gulfstream III * Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR1/R1/MR2/AEW3 * Hawker Siddeley Trident * McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG1/FGR2 *

Engines on display

Examples of the Rolls-Royce Spey are on public display at the: *

Beijing Air and Space Museum The Beijing Air and Space Museum is a museum in Haidian Qu, Beijing, China. The museum is part of the Beihang University, one of China's most prestigious engineering schools. It was founded in 1985 under its original name the Beijing Aviation M ...

Coventry Transport Museum Coventry Transport Museum (formerly known as the Museum of British Road Transport) is a transport museum, located in Coventry city centre, England. It houses the largest collection of British-made road transport held in public ownership. It i ...

Gatwick Aviation Museum The Gatwick Aviation Museum is located in the village of Charlwood, in Surrey, United Kingdom on the boundary of Gatwick Airport. History Originally started in 1987 as a private collection by local businessman Peter Vallance, the museum became ...

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 ...

Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre The Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre is located to the North of Montrose, Angus, Scotland. Montrose has the distinction of having the first operational military airfield in Great Britain and the Heritage Centre is located on the former ...

North East Land, Sea and Air Museums The North East Land, Sea and Air Museums (NELSAM), formerly the North East Aircraft Museum, is a volunteer-run aviation museum situated on the site of the former RAF Usworth/Sunderland Airport, between Washington and Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear ...

* Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust * Royal Air Force Museum Cosford * Royal Air Force Museum London *

Yorkshire Air Museum The Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial is an aviation museum in Elvington, York on the site of the former RAF Elvington airfield, a Second World War RAF Bomber Command station. The museum was founded, and first opened to the pub ...

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 ...

Specifications (Spey Mk 202)

References

External links

Rolls-Royce.com Spey page
{{People's Republic of China military aeroengines Low-bypass turbofan engines

Spey Spey may refer to: *Spey River (disambiguation) *Spey casting, a fly fishing technique developed on the River Spey *Rolls-Royce Spey, an early turbofan engine * HMS ''Spey'', the name of seven ships of the Royal Navy * For spey-wife -- see Völva a ...

1960s turbofan engines