D. Napier and Son began building aircraft engines in the World War I era. The Lion series was produced from 1917 until 1932 for military, commercial, and racing aircraft. Napier’s World War II era Sabre engines also powered a number of aircraft. Intended for use in long-range aircraft at the end of World War II, the Nomad was an engineering tour-de-force, although being one of the most complex aircraft engines ever built. Napier designed the Nomad to have the lowest possible fuel consumption by compounding a two-stroke diesel engine with a gas turbine and transmitting the power through a propeller.
The Nomad II, a simplified version of the original design, appeared in 1951 and was intended for the four-engine Avro Shackleton long-range patrol bomber. However, a single Nomad II flew only briefly, in the nose of an Avro Lincoln bomber. Napier cancelled the program in 1955 because the Nomad could not compete with gas turbine engines.
This object is on display in Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.