Design and Development
The Aquila was developed two years after the somewhat larger Perseus, both being sleeve valve designs. The primary difference was in size, the Perseus was based on the 5.75 by 6.5 in (146 by 170 mm) cylinder used in the Mercury engine, while the Aquila used a new and smaller 5 by 5.375 in (130 by 136.5 mm) sized cylinder. The result was a reduction in displacement from 1520 to 950 cubic inches (24.9 to 15.6 L).
The first Aquila engine delivered a modest 365 horsepower (272 kW), which was hardly spectacular for an engine of this size. It soon developed into more powerful versions as improvements were worked into the line (as well as similar changes to the Perseus), and by 1936 it had improved to 500 hp (370 kW). This would have made it an excellent replacement for the Bristol Jupiter, which ended production at 590 hp (440 kW) three years earlier, but by this time almost all interest was on ever-larger engines.
Read more about this topic: Bristol Aquila
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