S8 Ep134: PREVIEW — David Rooney — Rolls-Royce Engines and the 1919 Transatlantic Flight. Rooney describes the 1919 Atlantic crossing attempt, which definitively established Rolls-Royce's reputation as the premier manufacturer of aircraft engines. The company's Eag

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 1 minutes

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Summary

PREVIEW — David Rooney — Rolls-Royce Engines and the 1919 Transatlantic Flight. Rooney describes the 1919 Atlantic crossing attempt, which definitively established Rolls-Royce's reputation as the premier manufacturer of aircraft engines. The company's Eagle and Falcon engines proved vital because they could sustain continuous operation for over 10 hours without requiring refurbishment or maintenance, making them ideally suited for the demanding 20-hour transatlantic journeY.
1921

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is John Batchel. The story in 1919 of the attempt by several teams to transverse the Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland, east to Ireland or Britain, wherever they landed.
0:15.2	And David Rooney tells the story dramatically. Here's a detail, however. Where did Rose Royce win the reputation, not as a
0:22.6	manufacturer of vehicles, luxury vehicles, but of engines for airplanes? It's right here, 1919. Why? It could
0:32.5	sustain flight for more than 10 hours. David Rooney tells the story, the birth of Rose Royce as a premier
0:39.4	engine on aircraft, aircraft in the early part of the 20th century. The big hop. More of this,
0:46.8	much more of this tonight. Rose Royce were absolutely making the very best aerial engines in Britain
0:53.9	and among the best in the world.
0:56.0	And really, there weren't any other engines that the teams could have used.
1:00.0	The other aeron engines, certainly the British ones, they needed to be disassembled and refurbished after, you know, something like 10 hours.
1:08.3	Well, if this was going to be a 20-hour flight, that would be halfway across.
1:11.6	So the Rolls-Royce Eagle and the Rolls-Royce Falcon engines were the best you could get.
1:16.7	And they worked flawlessly.
1:19.3	And Rose-Royce, their reputation for arrow engine-making was effectively built in 1919 and lives to this day.
1:28.1	Yeah.

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