Recommendations for books on the Merlin engine and the de Havilland Mosquito

I have a particular interest in the de havilland Mosquito and am after a book for Christmas from my folks. Has anyone got a recommendation for a book on the Mosquito, preferably interesting and readable as well as being accurate and informative.
In the same vein, a recommendation for a book on the rolls Royce Merlin engine ? After all, if anything really deserves the title of a "a major contribution to winning the war", the Merlin surely deserves it ! ? !

 

I can only recommend a book I have used, and that is one my ex-father-in-law allowed me to read out of his own library. And while it isn't a long and overly stat based book it was easy reading and had some interesting portions unknown to myself. That would be Mosquito: The Wooden Wonder by Edward Bishop. I looked over on Amazon and they have the book for sale.

Don't really have any for the Merlin engine, the information I have gleaned about it over the years have come from many sources, not a single book.

 

Not a book on the Merlin, but I found this to be interesting enough: Ford in Europe:  The First Hundred Years

Here's a book (posted online) you might wish to look into: Amazon.com: British Piston Aero Engines (9781853102943): Alec Lumsden: Books

 

From Wiki's Bibliography on the Merlin:
Bibliography

• Air Ministry. A.P 1509B/J.2-W Merlin II and III Aero Engines (June 1940). London: Air Ministry, 1940.
• Air Ministry. A.P 1565B Spitfire IIA and IIB Aeroplanes: Merlin XII Engine, Pilot's Notes (July 1940). London: Air Data Publications, 1972 (reprint). ISBN 0-85979-043-6.
• Air Ministry. Pilot's Notes for Spitfire Mark F.VII – Merlin 64 or 71 engine; Mark F.VIII – Merlin 63,66 or 70 engine. Air Publication 1565G & H -P.N. London, UK: Air Ministry, December 1943.
• Beckles, Gordon. Birth of a Spitfire: The Story of Beaverbook's Ministry and its First £10,000,000. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1941.
• Berger, Monty and Street, Brian Jeffrey. Invasion Without Tears. Toronto, Canada: Random House, 1994 (1st ed) ISBN 0-394-22277-6.
• Bridgman, L. Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Crescent, 1998. ISBN 0-517-67964-7
• Fozard, John W.Sydney Camm and the Hurricane; Perspectives on the master fighter designer and his finest achievement. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife, 1991. ISBN 1-85310-270-9.
• Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. The Complete Book of Fighters. New York: Smithmark Publishers Inc., 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.
• Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines (3rd edition). Sparkford, Somerset, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1995. ISBN 1-85260-509-X.
• Harvey-Bailey, A. The Merlin in Perspective – the combat years. Derby, England: Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, 1983. ISBN 1-872922-06-6
• Hooker, Stanley Not Much of an Engineer London: Airlife, 1984. ISBN 1-85310-285-7.
• King, H. F. "The Two R's: A Commemorative History of Rolls-Royce Aero Engines. (article and images)." Flight No. 2363, Volume 65, 7 May 1954.
• Lloyd, Ian and Pugh, Peter. Hives & the Merlin. Cambridge, England: Icon Books, 2004. ISBN 1-84046-644-8
• Lovesey, A C. "Development of the Rolls-Royce Merlin from 1939 to 1945." Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Volume 18, Issue 7. London, MCB UP Ltd., July 1946. ISSN 0002-2667.
• Lumsden, Alec. British Piston Engines and their Aircraft. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-85310-294-6.
• Martin, Karl. Irish Army Vehicles, Transport and Armour since 1922. 2002. ISBN 0-9543413-0-9.
• Mason, Francis K. Hawker Aircraft Since 1920 (3rd revised edition). London, UK: Putnam, 1991. ISBN 0-85177-839-9.
• McKinstry, Leo. Spitfire – Portrait of a Legend. London: John Murray, 2007. ISBN 0-7195-6874-9.
• Morgan, Eric B. and Edward Shacklady. Spitfire: The History. London: Key Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-946219-48-6.
• Nicholls, Robert. Trafford Park: the First Hundred Years. Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 1996. ISBN 1-86077-013-4.
• Payton-Smith, D J. Oil: A Study of War-time Policy and Administration. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1971.
• Price, Alfred. The Spitfire Story. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. ISBN 0-86720-624-1.
• Pugh, Peter. The Magic of a Name – The Rolls-Royce Story – The First 40 Years. Cambridge, England. Icon Books Ltd, 2000. ISBN 1-84046-151-9.
• Robertson, Bruce. Spitfire: The Story of a Famous Fighter. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK: Model & Allied Publications Ltd., 1960. Third revised edition 1973. ISBN 0-900435-11-9.
• Rubbra, A.A. Rolls-Royce piston aero engines: A designer remembers. Derby, England: Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, 1990. ISBN 1-872922-00-7.
• Smallwood, Hugh. Spitfire in Blue. London: Osprey Aerospace, 1996. ISBN 1-85532-615-9.
• Smith, G. Geoffrey. "A British Masterpiece. (article and images)." Flight No. 1731, Volume XLI, 26 February 1942.
• Smith, G. Geoffrey. "Rolls-Royce Merlin 'Sixty-One' (article and images)." Flight No. 1773, Volume XLII, 17 December 1942.
• Tanner, John. The Spitfire V Manual (AP1565E reprint). London: Arms and Armour Press, 1981. ISBN 0-85368-420-0.
• "Some Trends in engine design (article and images)." Flight No. 1563, Volume XXXIV, 8 December 1938.
• "Rolls-Royce Merlin 130 Series (article and images)." Flight No. 1935, Volume XLIX, 24 January 1946.
• "Two New Power Units (article and images)." Flight and The Aircraft Engineer No. 1961, Volume L, 25 July 1946.

[h=2]Further reading[/h]

• Gunston, Bill. Development of Piston Aero Engines. Cambridge: Patrick Stephens, 2006. ISBN 0-7509-4478-1
• Henshaw, Alex. Sigh for a Merlin: Testing the Spitfire. London: Crecy, 1999 (2nd revised edition). ISBN 0-947554-83-1.
• Jackson, Robert. The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft Bath, UK: Parragon Books, 2006. ISBN 1-4054-2465-6.
• Price, Alfred. Spitfire Mark I/II Aces 1939–41. London: Osprey Aerospace, 1996. ISBN 1-85532-627-2.

 

That`s an interesting site. I thought it sufficiently interesting to put it in my favourites, but my PC wouldn`t let me, because it was already there and I`d forgotten !

 

I`m surprised that nobody has written a book on the Merlin because in my opinion it really was one of the most important factors in the Allies winning the war.
Apart from powering most of the Lancasters, Spitfires and Mustangs, plus all the Hurricanes and Mosquitoes, it was even used (as the Meteor) in many British tanks !
We won`t dwell on its use in the Fairey Battle, the Boulton Paul Defiant and the Whitley, but they add to an already impressively long list.

 

Justin S., here is a link to an old post of mine concerning the fasteners (nuts and bolts), and the solution used by the American Packard company so that its license built engines would be logistically interchangeable with the British build units.

Goto:

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/27373-how-about-unglamorous-facet.html

I enjoyed putting that together three years ago, and the responses from our fellow Rogues.

 

The Merlin was truly a "war winner". I agree that a book dedicated to its full story should be written.
Justin, how soon can we expect to see the first draft of your manuscript?

 

Write a book ? I haven`t even got enough time to keep up with my own aerials website, which probably won`t surprise you if you spend a few minutes on it !

 

CQ CQ
Do any of your aerials allow me to pick up Venusian transmissions on my Midland 40-channel CB?
We lost contact with each other a few decades ago just outside of Roswell AZ, and I'm wondering how my love child is doing...

 

look at no 2 &19 on the list here:

http://www.enginehistory.org/Reviews/R-RHTBookList-OrderForm.pdf

The book 2 is mentioned earlier and it seems you can still order them .


I have no 35 and it is very detailed

 

As a 'starter' for the Mossie, it's still hard to beat Bowyer & Sharp's seminal 'Mosquito' which has been reprinted many times.
For a book which is packed with rare and unusual photographs with fully detailed captions telling the entire history of the Mosquito from prototype to '633 Squadron', then I'd highly recommend Ian Thirsk's 'de Havilland Mosquito - An Illustrated History Volume 2' which is still easily available.

After that, there are now many Mosquito titles available on almost avery aspect of its design and service career.

 

Oh.........and the most 'readable' book I've found about the Merlin is 'Hives And The Merlin' by Sir Ian Lloyd and Peter Pugh ( Icon Books, Cambridge, 2004 ). A quite gripping account of the men and politics behind the engine, with plenty of history and technical info thrown in. Well worth getting hold of a copy !

 

Thanks for that chaps, I`ll pass on the details to my family for my Christmas presents !