The Rolls-Royce Conway was the first by-pass engine to go into service in the world. The jet found only limited applications in the Handley Page Victor, the Vickers VC-10, the Boeing 707-420 and the Douglas DC-8-40. It started its flight development at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.

The Victor was also tested at Hucknall, together with the aircraft intake on one of the test beds. An Avro Vulcan was used to continue the development of the engine and also another new Rolls Royce engine, the Spey. The engines were located in the wing root of the Victor and in twin pods on either side of the rear fuselage of the VC-10.

The largest Conways built were the RCo.42 and 43 which powered the Super-VC10.

The Victor bomber was the only military application of the Conway engine, as almost all British military aircraft projects of the time had been cancelled following the infamous Duncan Sandys defence review, which charged that all manned military aircraft were obsolete and should be replaced by ground-launched guided missiles. The engine also found few civilian applications, as most airlines (especially US airlines) preferred to use US-built engines, and the American counter to the Conway, the Pratt & Whitney JT3D was less noisy and had a lower fuel consumption.

For future civilian aircraft a completely new design of fuel efficient and low noise capability was required and so Rolls-Royce designed its first "big (high bypass) fan" engine, the Rolls-Royce RB211. Ironically it was a VC-10 that was used as the flying testbed for the RB211, RAF 10 Squadron VC10, XR809.

Engine Variants

  Variant          Rel.Thrust     Aircraft
  RCo.11           1.00         Victor B.2 
  RCo.12 Mk 508    1.01                707   With thrust reverser
  RCo.12 Mk 508A   1.04                707   Uprated Mk 508 
  RCo.12 Mk 509    1.01               DC-8
  RCo.12 Mk 509A   1.04               DC-8   Uprated Mk 509
  RCo.17           1.19         Victor B.2  
  RCo.42 Mk 540    1.18              VC-10
  RCo.43 Mk 301    1.26              VC-10   Military VC-10
  RCo.43 Mk 550    1.26        Super VC-10   8-stage LPC