Airportable

My word you managed to squeeze in an awful lot interesting stuff there, especially the bits about Phil Irvine. My dad & he were both Fellows of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers & although they knew each other I can’t say how well.
The Repco engines were very competitive for a time & then they slipped under my radar; they could still be.
There is a time band across which I have great affection, where engines were designed by inspired engineers, many of who cut their teeth during the war & took those skills forward.
BRM was a case in point. Started post war & picking up on prewar ERA designs, Raymond Mays, Tony Rudd & Harry Mundy (who was a friend of dads) produced remarkable results from, at times, underfunded work. The 1.5ltr V16 was & still is a remarkable piece of engineering in all respects, had the formula not changed & development continued it could have become a landmark engine.
It is still made, all be it in odd ones & it’s now finding that reliability original lacking, due to that formula change.
And not a computer in sight or a calculator; slide rules ruled.
OK.
M