Editing Rolls-Royce Meteor (section)

==Production==

[[File:The British Army in the United Kingdom 1939-45 H37168.jpg|thumb|Cromwell tank showing its speed during official inspection]]

Early prototypes were produced by Rolls-Royce. In 1941, Leyland, which had an order for 1,200 Meteor engines, was still advocating its own diesel tank engine for the Cromwell tank.  It would deliver only {{convert|350|hp|abbr=on}}, but Leyland was concerned with the problem of sufficient cooling for the Meteor within the confines of the tank engine bay. When Leyland withdrew its support, Robotham took the problem to [[Ernest Hives, 1st Baron Hives|Ernest Hives]]. Hives took the problem to the [[Ministry of Supply]], telling [[Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook|Lord Beaverbrook]] that he already had his hands full making Merlin aero engines, and Rolls-Royce would want £1 million to its credit and 'no interference' to make tank engines, The Beaver telegrammed back:{{sfn|Robotham |1970|pp=154,155}}{{sfn|Fletcher|1989|p=34}}

{{Blockquote|OHMS Ministry of Supply to W. Hives Nightingale Road Rolls-Royce Derby <br>
The British Government has given you an open credit of one million pounds. This is a certificate of character and reputation without precedent or equal. Beaverbrook. }}

An order for 1,000 engines followed with, and a new tank design specification was created: A27M, splitting design of the Meteor powered Cromwell away from Leyland to [[Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company]] (BRC&W). They resolved the cooling problems, ultimately delivering before Leyland's version, although production leadership later switched back to Leyland when BRC&W could not keep up with demand.

The Meteor was initially produced by [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]] but manufacturing capacity was severely limited due to the demand for Merlin engines. Early units were still manufactured using recovered Merlin parts and many early Meteors still showed crash damage.  When engine manufacturing needed to increase output, brand new engines had to be made. Because weight saving was not so important for a tank engine, some of the Merlin's more expensive light-alloy components were replaced with cheaper, [[steel]] versions. It was also envisaged that the Meteor would use some components rejected on quality grounds for the Merlin, but suitable for a derated Meteor engine.{{sfn|Lloyd|1978|p=93}} Many of these rejected parts while not meeting strict standards for [[airworthiness]], were perfectly adequate for use in ground vehicles where the crew or operators were not subject to the inherent hazards involved in flight.

To increase production, [[Henry Meadows|Meadows]] produced some Meteors but the small factory of 2,000&nbsp;men was producing 40&nbsp;types of engine.  To make enough Meteors for the Cromwell build programme, Rolls-Royce agreed to move Meteor production to the [[Rover Company]] at [[Tyseley]] and Morris at [[Coventry]].

Rolls-Royce was also aiding the development of production jet engines at [[Rover (car)|Rover]], but progress there was slow and there were disputes between Power Jets designers of the engine. Rover became disillusioned. Backed by the MAP who were unable to force Power Jets to become part of Rover, Hives struck a deal in December 1942 with [[Spencer Wilks]] of Rover to trade [[Rolls-Royce Welland|W.2B/23]] production and the Rover jet design team at [[Barnoldswick]] for the Rolls-Royce tank engine factory in [[Nottingham]] and production of the Meteor, to become officially effective on 1 April 1943. In 1943, an acute shortage of blocks was met by dismantling surplus older marks of Merlin.

Rover took over the Meteor in January 1944 and in 1946 the British Government made Rover responsible for research and development of large military engines. In this role, Rover continued the development and production of the Meteor Mk IVb and various derivatives, including the [[Rolls-Royce Meteorite|Meteorite V8]] and the M120 V12. Rover ceased this activity in 1964, having produced approximately 9,000 engines. The [[Land Rover]] success required more manufacturing capacity, so Rolls-Royce again became responsible for the manufacture of spare parts. Future engines for British tanks were manufactured by the engine division Rolls-Royce Diesels of [[Shrewsbury]], which in 1969 had a seven-figure unfulfilled order for Meteor spares''.''{{sfn|Robotham|1970|p=268}} It was acquired by [[Perkins Engines|Perkins]] in the 1980s. Perkins was taken over by [[Caterpillar Inc]] in 1997.