"Pistons to Blades - Small gas turbine developments by the Rover Company" by Mark CS Barnard, published by The Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust

Rover was approached to manufacture the new gas turbine engines being developed by Frank Whittle and his Power Jets company in 1940. A factory was set up away from prying eyes in Barnoldswick in Lancashire, England on the site of an old mill.  Ernest Hives of Rolls-Royce and Spencer Wilks of Rover concluded a deal (with Ministry of Aircraft Production approval) to exchange the gas turbine business for Meteor tank engine production, which was a land version of the famous Merlin aero engine of Hurricane and Spitfire fame.

Rover did not forget about their gas turbine experience and after the war ended experiments were undertaken to make small gas turbine engines suitable for cars, trucks, boats and trains. Rover converted a number of vehicles and even worked with BRM to construct a racing car which was raced in the 1964 Le Mans 24 hours. Most famously the Rover-BRM was driven around Sliverstone by British racing champions, Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart in March 1965. Unfortunately, there was to be no significant revolution in motor car propulsion involving turbine engines, but Rover were able to produce lightweight gas turbine engines which could be used as electrical generators (one application was on the Avro Vulcan V-bomber).

This book was first published in 2003  (156 pages, 90 photographs and illustrations, b/w and colour) by The Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust as part of the Historical Series

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