- Pobjoy Airmotors
Pobjoy Airmotors and Aircraft was a British manufacturer of small
aircraft engine s. They were purchased byShort Brothers shortly before the start ofWorld War II , production continuing until the end of the war.History
Douglas Rudolf Pobjoy started in the engine business working withRoy Fedden atCosmos Engineering just after the end ofWorld War I . Cosmos went bankrupt shortly after the war, with their assets eventually being picked up byBristol Aeroplane where Fedden would go on to produce a line of extremely successful engines.Pobjoy also spent time in the RAF as an education officer. Here he met Flight Lt.
Nicholas Comper who went on to design theComper Swift , which would later fly from London to Australia in 9 days 2 hours. Pobjoy partnered withParnell to develop an engine for the Swift. Although they felt that a cast-block inline engine like the ones being produced by Cirrus andde Havilland would always be less expensive, they nevertheless selected the radial layout for their design, feeling that the cost would be more than offset by the lighter weight and higher performance his designs would offer. Pobjoy later took over the design and started a company of his own to produce it in the Wirral.The Parnell/Pobjoy design, the 7-cylinder 67 hp
Pobjoy P , received its 50-hour type rating in 1928. This was followed in 1929 by the 75/80 hpPobjoy R , which became very successful, notably on theGeneral Aircraft Monospar . Later designs included the 85/90 hpPobjoy Cataract , replacing the R, and 130 hpPobjoy Niagara of 1934. The Niagara was used on a number of designs by Shorts designers, notably theShort Scion Senior and the original half-scale prototype for theShort Stirling , the S.31. The Niagara's compact size excellent performance led to it being used on theAir Ministry 's S.23/27 extremely long-endurance prototypes, the General Aircraft GAL.38 and Airspeed AS.39 "Fleet Shadowers".In 1934 Pobjoy moved their plant to
Rochester, Kent to be closer to their largest customer, Shorts. The move, and the ongoing effects of theGreat Depression , drove the company into financial difficulty, and it was eventually bought outright by Shorts. Douglas Pobjoy then moved on to designing de-icing equipment for high-altitude flights.After the war Pobjoy designed a new tractor. On
4 July 1948 he was returning from a sales trip toHelsinki when theScandinavian Airlines Douglas DC-6 he was flying in collided with anAvro York in clouds over theNortholt Aerodrome . All 38 passengers in both planes were killed. [Lumsden 2003, p.178.]Note
According to "Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II" of 1946, the company was made public in 1935.
During the second world war Pobjoy ran a section of Rotol Airscrews of Gloucester, England, responsible for the design and development of an airborne generator, intended for use on the Short Shetland flying boat. The unit consisted of a flat-six sleeve-valve air-cooled petrol engine driving the generator. This was installed inboard on the aircraft, and due to the incorrect closure of the cooling ducts the engine overheated and the resulting fire destroyed the prototype Shetland. It seems that the project was abandoned at this stage
Designs
*
Pobjoy P
*Pobjoy R 80 hp
**7 cylinder radial air cooled geared, 2835 cc
*Pobjoy Cataract
*Pobjoy Niagara 90 to 130 hp
**Mark V - seven-cylinder air-cooled geared radial engineReferences
Notes
Bibliography
* Lumsden, Alec. "British Piston Engines and their Aircraft". Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-85310-294-6.
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