Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox aero engine

The Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba is a turboprop engine design developed in the late 1940s of around Template:Cvt. It was used mostly on the Fairey Gannet anti-submarine aircraft developed for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy.

Design and development

The Double Mamba (rarely known as the Twin Mamba) was a development of the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba with two Mambas driving contra-rotating propellers through a combining gearbox.<ref>Gunston 1989, p.20.</ref>

Engine starting was by cartridge; however, forced air restart was achieved in flight. One engine could be shut down in flight to conserve fuel. Shutting down one engine also stopped one of the propellers.

Variants

File:Fairey Gannet T.2 XA522 Farnborough 10.09.55 edited-2.jpg

Fairey Gannet flying with one half of its Double Mamba engine shut down

ASMD.1: Template:Cvt (2 x ASMa.3) used on Fairey Gannet A.S. Mk.1 and Blackburn B-88
ASMD.3: Template:Cvt (2 x ASMa.5) used on Fairey Gannet A.S. Mk.4
ASMD.4: Template:Cvt (2 x ASMa.6) used on Fairey Gannet AEW Mk.3
ASMD.8: Template:Cvt (2 x ASMa.6) used on Fairey Gannet AEW Mk.3

Applications

The Double Mamba engine was also proposed for the Westland Westminster, a 30-seat helicopter that was later built as a prototype powered by a pair of Napier Eland E220 turboshaft engines.

Engines on display

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} }} Preserved Double Mamba engines are on public display at the: