The Rolls-Royce Merlin was an extremely successful engine used in a variety of specifications, in many fighter aircraft, as development progressed throughout The Second World War. The iconic Spitfire was powered by a version of this engine, as was the Bristol Beaufighter IIF from which this engine was recovered in 1978, 37 years after it had crashed.

Peter Grieve, who belongs to a group called Aero-engines Carlisle, has restored this particular engine, which was originally built at the Rolls-Royce Hillington plant in Glasgow. He exhibits it and others at various events around the UK, providing what can only be described as a mind blowing spectacle with distinctive noise, rendering the audience as attentive as any who might be attending the performance of a diva.