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Following its success as an automobile manufacturer, Rolls-Royce, Ltd. began design and development of aircraft engines at the request of the British Admiralty at the beginning of World War I. The Rolls-Royce Condor was a large and very powerful engine developed at the end of the war in 1918 for use in long-range heavy bombers, principally for bombing Berlin, Germany. Design work was begun at the end of 1917 and retained the same cylinder construction of earlier types. A total of 327 Condors were recorded as having been built. The Condor Mk IA (also referred to as the Condor II) was built in 1921. It succeeded the Mk I and incorporated several design changes, increasing the power and speed. Only 34 of these engines were built by Rolls-Royce at Derby. The Condor Mk IA powered the Beardmore BeRo.1 Inflexible, Fairey N.4 Atalanta, and the Hawker Horsley aircraft.