What If... Rolls Royce had built aircraft?

[Tornado]

I read somewhere that before his death Charles Rolls had wanted to build an aircraft.

What would have happened had Rolls not been killed at the Bournemouth Flying Meeting in 1908 and instead he had gone on to design and build a Rolls-Royce aircraft?

With Royce's attention to detail and sturdy construction like their cars the early RR aircraft might have been more durable than most early planes and might have gained Royce some flying records too. He held the 1901 land speed record afterall, he might have made many more records and if he did then RR aircraft might have sold very well to those wealthy young fliers who might have had Rolls-Royce cars already or at least had heard of them. They might have established themselves within the early firms before the Great War and might have turned to the development of aero engnies before 1914. Royce only turned to engines in 1914 when the Air Department of the Admiralty asked him to develop an engine of similar power to the 200hp Sunbeam. Had Rolls lived his aircraft creations might have already asked Royce for an engine.

Then we have the wide possibilites of the Great War and after, military aircraft neatly matched to their RR engines, multi-engined Eagle-powered bombers world speed record breaking machines (a RR Schneider seaplane with a RR R-Type engine perhaps), Kestrel powered fighters, Condor powered airliners and what could the Merlin have been with a RR fighter? With sturdy construction, perfection for details and good equipment and luxury the RFC might have had a more survivable bomber or fighter with fewer losses to accidents or crashes owing to poor buld-qaulity (although RR would had to have out-sourced production for a mass scale. Postwar airlines might have wanted to woo rich passengers with luxury Rolls-Royce built airliners too.

Well I'm open to suggestions and ideas, what do you guys think was possible?

[Cobra]

What about an RR Powered Flying Boat for the FAA &  one For Coastal Command? Would there have some 'Smart Arse' Comments about RR Aircraft? Just something to Consider.  :cheers:Dan

[kitnut617]

RR did attempt to build a fighter during WW.II.  I made a couple of models of it, and it would have been a mid-engined, 3 cannon fighter which according to the book 'Rolls Royce and the Mustang' (written by the official RR historian David Birch) had an 80% completed 'all-metal' mock-up built. It was proposed to the Air Ministry like the model in the top two photos below.  Had it gone ahead it would have looked like the last two photos where it was suggested by the Air Ministry to be used as a FTB.  David Birch told me that had it flown it would have had a Tempest tail installed.  David also told me that the 1/10 scale wind tunnel model (which is pictured in the book) still exists and is owned by someone who David knows. As far as I know this is the only model made of the Tempest tailed version.

[Tornado]

Very impressive looking fighter and two great looking models. I hadn't heard of this design before. Probably a bit too technical for mass production and by that time the RAF had plenty of its own Mustangs, late-Mark Spitfires and Tempests anyway and might have gone the way of the M.B.5 even had it flown.

Any RR aircraft division, like Bristol, would have had access to the latest engine developments and could fine tune cowlings and mountings etc to the airframe. As having the right engine is half of the design problem Rolls just might have had an edge. Certainly it opens up all kinds of whiffs.