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All the pictures and text on these pages have been taken from the Merlin web site www.merlinv12.com

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Hi, I'm Peter Grieve, the one on the left with slightly more hair than the guy on the right, who is Robin Byers. We are both engineers, based in Carlisle, UK, and in our spare time we rebuild Merlin engines for static or ground-running use, and also support airworthy projects with spares, tooling and some parts we make, such as exhaust stubs.
The engine in the picture is my 1941 Merlin XX, from a Bristol Beaufighter II, (yes, they did have Merlin's!), which we take to shows throughout the summer and run-up, (see Events List). This way, people can get to see a working Merlin close-up where it would normally be enclosed in an aircraft, and at a great distance. We, on the other hand, get to meet plenty of interesting people, many of whom actually worked on these engines, and some who are just plain mad, like ourselves!

She runs! After many a late night sorting out the usual Merlin oil leaks, we finally have the `24 running, and very nice it sounds too! This picture was taken at our last show of 2003, Ripon Racecourse on October 5th. To date (late October) we have yet to take it over 1500 rpm, as we encountered a fuel-starvation fault caused by the positioning of the feed lines, but we will very soon have her running the way she likes. . . FAST!

This engine was one of a pair fitted to Beaufighter IIf, serial No R2335. It served with the Fighter Interception Unit at Ford, West Sussex, and was employed in the testing of Airborne Interception Radar (Seeing other aircraft, particularly at night), and other night-fighting techniques. 450 Beaufighters were built with the Merlin XX, the rest, (the vast majority) had the Bristol Hercules 14 cylinder sleeve-valve radial engine, with a similar power output.

R2335 was out testing a radar on the night of 4/5 September 1941, when upon coming in to land, the pilot, F/O DM Lake found that the undercarriage had failed to lock down, so took the ship back up to attempt to "shake" it down fully. At this point it appears that he entered an uncontrollable spin, and the aircraft dived in 4 miles to the west of Ford, killing all on board.

I often think of the bravery of these men and others when I run the engine, and the project has always been dedicated to their memory. The struggle I have had rebuilding it is nothing against what these heroes had to go through for our liberty. At this stage I cannot include the names of the other crew members, as I have some four names in total, and I guess that there were no more than three on board, if anyone can shed any light on this, I would be very grateful.....