Bristol 'Centaurus' sleeve-valve aero engine, c 1940s.

Bristol ‘Centaurus’ sleeve-valve radial 18-cylinder aero engine, part-sectioned, by The Bristol Aeroplane Company Limited, Bristol, Somerset, England, 1942-1950

Bristol 'Centaurus' sleeve-valve aero engine. The Centaurus engine represents the final phase of the high-powered piston aero-engine and was the largest radial engine made in Britain before the advent of the turbo-jet and turbo-prop aero-engines made this type obsolete. Centaurus engines were used on the British European Airways Ambassador airliners and the Blackburn Beverley, a large transport. The pure military version shown here, the Mk18 was used to power the Fleet Air Arm Hawker Sea Fury.