page_title: Rolls-Royce R
section_title: Engines on display
hierarchical_section_title: Rolls-Royce R / Engines on display
caption_attribution_description: English: Rolls-Royce 'R' aero engine at the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon.
context_page_description: The Rolls-Royce R was a British aero engine designed and built specifically for air racing purposes by Rolls-Royce Limited. Nineteen R engines were assembled in a limited production run between 1929 and 1931. Developed from the Rolls-Royce Buzzard, it was a 37-litre capacity, supercharged V-12 capable of producing just under 2,800 horsepower, and weighed 1,640 pounds. Intensive factory testing revealed mechanical failures which were remedied by redesigning the components, greatly improving reliability.
  The R was used with great success in the Schneider Trophy seaplane competitions held in England in 1929 and 1931. Shortly after the 1931 competition, an R engine using a special fuel blend powered the winning Supermarine S.6B aircraft to a new airspeed record of over 400 miles per hour. Continuing through the 1930s, both new and used R engines were used to achieve various land and water speed records by such racing personalities as Sir Henry Segrave, Sir Malcolm Campbell and his son Donald, the last record being set in 1939. A final R-powered water speed record attempt by Donald Campbell in 1951 was unsuccessful.
context_section_description: The Royal Air Force Museum London at Hendon has a Rolls-Royce R on display (museum number 65E1139) that came to the museum in November 1965 from RAF Cranwell. According to the museum's records, before that it was with George Eyston as one of Thunderbolt's record engines. Its data plate states that it is R25 under Air Ministry contract number A106961 which makes it the second 1931 race engine delivered to RAF Calshot. 
  R27
  The London Science Museum has an R engine on display which is catalogued as a stand-alone item, inventory number 1948-310. This is R27, the second sprint engine prepared for the successful air speed record attempt, and later used in Thunderbolt. The Science Museum also has S.6B, S1595, (winner of the 1931 race and the final air speed record aircraft) on display.
  R37
  The Filching Manor Motor Museum has R37 which is destined to be fitted in its restoration of the Blue Bird K3 water speed record boat.
  These three engines are the only ones listed by the British Aircraft Preservation Council/Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. The Solent Sky museum's S.6A, N248, (a competing aircraft in the 1929 race as an S.6, and stand-by for the 1931 race, modified as an S.6A) does not contain an R engine.
caption: Rolls-Royce R, R25, at the Royal Air Force Museum London
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