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Rolls-Royce Limited was a British car and aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Henry Royce and C.S. Rolls in 1906 and was the result of a partnership formed in 1904. In 1971 Rolls-Royce was crippled by the development of the advanced RB211 jet engine, resulting in the nationalisation of the company. In 1973 the car division was separated from Rolls-Royce Limited as Rolls-Royce Motors. Rolls-Royce Limited continued as a nationalised company until it was privatised in 1987 as Rolls-Royce plc.
Henry Royce's last design was the Merlin aero engine, which came out in 1935, although he had died in 1933. This was developed after the R engine, which had powered a record-breaking Supermarine S6B seaplane to almost 400 mph in the 1931 Schneider Trophy. The Merlin was a powerful V12 engine and was fitted into many World War II aircraft: the British Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, De Havilland Mosquito (two-engine), Avro Lancaster (four-engine), Vickers Wellington (two-engine); it also transformed the American P-51 Mustang into possibly the best fighter of its time, its Merlin engine built by Packard under license. Over 160,000 Merlin engines were produced. The Merlin crossed over into military vehicle use as the Meteor powering the Centurion tank among others.
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