The Alvis Pelides was an unflown British air-cooled radial aero engine first developed in 1936. The Pelides Major was a projected but unbuilt development as were the Alcides, Alcides Major and the Maeonides Major, the Alvis aircraft engine range taking their names from Greek mythology.Lumsden 2003, p.57.
Design and development The Pelides was the first aero engine of Alvis design; the company had previously only built the French Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major under license.Gunston 1989, p.13. With the two companies working closely together the 14 cylinder radial layout of this engine retained metric dimensions but substituted metric screw threads with British fasteners such as BSF and Whitworth. Material specifications were different as were the detail design of internal parts such as the crankpin. The Pelides passed a 50-hour Air Ministry type test in 1937 where it produced 1,065 hp (794 kW) but no aircraft application was found and only 15 engines were built. The onset of the Second World War caused the abandonment of any further development of the Pelides and its related designs.Lumsden 2003, p.56.
Variants (projected) Pelides 2-row 14-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, d/d, 13:19 or 0.5:1. Pelides MajorThe Pelides Major was a version retaining the same dimensions as the Pelides but with improvements to the supercharger, only built in small quantities for testing at . AlcidesThe Alcides of 1937 was a powerful supercharged 18-cylinder two-row radial engine, with a power output of . 2-row 18-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, d/d, 13:19 or 0.5:1. Alcides MajorThe Alcides Major was an improved supercharged version of the Alcides. Maeonides MajorAlso designed in 1937, the supercharged Maeonides Major was effectively a smaller version of the Pelides with a power output of . 2-row 14-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, 5:7.
Specifications (Pelides)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
Flight magazine - 15 April 1937 (Flightglobal.com) Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. Lumsden, Alec. British Piston Engines and their Aircraft. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. .
External links Alvis Pelides displayed at a 1938 trade fair - Flightglobal.com