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Concept
Napier Sabre
Summary
The Napier Sabre is a British H-24-cylinder, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aero engine, designed by Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolved to become one of the most powerful inline piston aircraft engines in the world, developing from in its earlier versions to in late-model prototypes.
The first operational aircraft to be powered by the Sabre were the Hawker Typhoon and Hawker Tempest; the first aircraft powered by the Sabre was the Napier-Heston Racer, which was designed to capture the world speed record. Other aircraft using the Sabre were early prototype and production variants of the Blackburn Firebrand, the Martin-Baker MB 3 prototype and a Hawker Fury prototype. The rapid introduction of jet engines after the war led to the quick demise of the Sabre, as there was less need for high power military piston aero engines and because Napier turned its attention to developing turboprop engines such as the Naiad and Eland.
Prior to the Sabre, Napier had been working on large aero engines for some time. Their most famous was the Lion, which had been a very successful engine between the World Wars and in modified form had powered several of the Supermarine Schneider Trophy competitors in 1923 and 1927, as well as several land speed record cars. By the late 1920s, the Lion was no longer competitive and work started on replacements.
Napier followed the Lion with two H-block designs: the H-16 Rapier and the H-24 Dagger. The H-block has a compact layout, consisting of two horizontally opposed engines, one atop or beside the other. Since the cylinders are opposed, the motion in one is balanced by the motion on the opposing side, eliminating both first order and second order vibration. In these new designs, Napier chose air cooling but in service, the rear cylinders proved to be impossible to cool properly, which made the engines unreliable.
During the 1930s, studies showed the need for engines capable of developing one horsepower per cubic inch of displacement (about 45 kW/litre).
Official source
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