The Fairey P.12 Prince was a British experimental 700 hp (520 kW) class V-12

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbin ...

designed and built by Fairey in the early 1930s. The engine did not go into production.

Design and development

The Prince was a privately funded project designed by Captain A.G. Forsyth, who had joined the Fairey company in 1931 as their chief engine designer. The company had hoped to obtain

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 and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

orders for the engine but faced opposition, with the ministry favouring

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

engines instead. Three prototypes were built in secrecy; with the engines running by 1933, a single Prince was installed and test flown in a Fairey Fox II biplane in 1934, but no orders materialised.Gunston 1989, p. 56.

Applications

Fairey Fox The Fairey Fox was a British light bomber and fighter biplane of the 1920s and 1930s. It was originally produced in Britain for the RAF, but continued in production and use in Belgium long after it was retired in Britain. Development and des ...

Variants

*P.12 Prince I or Prince V-12 :650 hp (485 kW) - Unsupercharged *P.12 Prince II or Super Prince V-12S :720 hp (537 kW) projected - Fully supercharged

Specifications (Prince I)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* 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

''Flight'' magazine 1955 Image of Prince installed in a Fairey Fox
{{Aeroengine-specs Prince (V12) 1930s aircraft piston engines V12 aircraft engines