2-839-575 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Initially asked in 1914 to study an overheating problem in rotary engines, Captain W. O. Bentley, an established car designer, developed a new and more efficient engine, with a weight-saving effect realized by careful design and the use of aluminum wherever possible. Equally important was the lower cost, as compared to the French Clerget, then widely used in British aircraft; and itself considered an improvement over the earlier Gnome;Following success of the smaller A.R.1 (Admiral Rotary 1), which was later renamed Model B.R.1 for Bentley Rotary 1, the larger B.R.2 rotary aircraft engine powered a variety of World War I aircraft, including, among others, the: Sopwith F.1 Camel and 7F.1 Snipe; Nieuport B.N.1; and Vickers F.B.26A Vampire II. Humber Ltd., one of five British companies that manufactured this model during World War I, built this Bentley B.R.2 artifact.