With the meeting of Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce in the early 1900s, the seeds were planted for one of the most famous luxury car brands in history: Rolls-Royce. In the century since the brand came into existence, it has cranked out remarkable high-end rides on a consistent basis. In fact, it is responsible for some of the most expensive cars of all time. Of course, while Rolls-Royce has cemented its legacy as the textbook definition of a pricey car brand, it has expanded its horizons into other fields of transportation technology, like air travel. However, the Rolls-Royce responsible for creating luxury cars is a separate entity from the Rolls-Royce behind airplane engines.
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Rolls-Royce filed for bankruptcy in 1971, resulting in it splitting into the car-focused Rolls-Royce Motor Holdings Limited and Rolls-Royce Limited (sometimes referred to as Rolls-Royce plc or just Rolls-Royce Holdings), of jet engine fame. The company, now called Rolls-Royce Ltd., has been involved in plane engine construction since World War I, first coming up with the Rolls-Royce Eagle engine for the British military in 1915. All these years later, Rolls-Royce Ltd. has very much remained committed to its air travel efforts. It’s now regarded as the second-largest airplane engine manufacturer in the world, behind GE Aerospace alone. It has even made some of the most revolutionary engines that changed aviation forever.
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At this point, Rolls-Royce Ltd. has a few key engines under its belt that power some of the world’s most well-known planes.
Rolls-Royce is responsible for some impressive engines
As the Rolls-Royce Eagle has receded further into history, the company behind it has moved on. In doing so, it has introduced a few notable airplane engines to the marketplace, moving travelers through extended trips quickly and efficiently. Long after the end of World War I and World War II, Rolls-Royce’s RB211 line of engines burst onto the scene in the early 1970s. With 42,000 lbs of thrust behind it, the original made a name for itself, powering the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and some Boeing 747 Transport units as well. Naturally, the RB211 later spawned variations to keep up with the times. Nowadays, the RB211 remains a widely used engine in the modern era, as seen on Boeing’s 757, which is powered by the RB211-535E4.
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A more recent innovation compared to the RB211, the Rolls-Royce Trent engine series came to fruition in 1990. The Airbus A330-designed Trent 700 quickly impressed with a thrust of up to 72,000 lbs and commitment to the line’s the overall line’s mandate of reducing pollution without compromising on cost. As a result, it has become one of Rolls-Royce’s most prominent engines, powering planes like the aforementioned A330, the Airbus A350 XWB, and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner– one of the best jets Boeing has ever made — to name a few. Much like the RB211, the Trent has undergone several transformations throughout the years, with the most recent as of publication being the Trent 1000 and the Trent XWB.
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Though they may not be one and the same these days, the car and plane engine-focused Rolls-Royces are undeniably determined to remain on the cutting-edge of the technology behind their respective forms of travel.
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