Napier Sabre
Napier
- Configuration
- 24-cylinder liquid-cooled sleeve-valve H-block
- Power
- ~2,200 hp (early) to over 3,000 hp (late)
About
The Sabre was among the most powerful — and most troublesome — piston engines of the war: a 24-cylinder, liquid-cooled, sleeve-valve “H” engine giving 2,200 hp in early service and over 3,000 hp by the war’s end. Persistent sleeve-manufacturing problems made its first years a misery of failures, mastered only after English Electric took a hand in production. Once reliable it powered the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest; the Tempest became the fastest piston fighter at low level, the principal destroyer of V-1 flying bombs, and a killer even of the Me 262 jet.
Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Lumsden, Alec — British Piston Aero-Engines and their Aircraft (Airlife, 2003) and Napier Sabre — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material.