Beatrice “Tilly” Shilling is a legend in Merlin lore. It was Ms. Shilling who overcame the serious negative “G” cutout problems with SU carburetor equipped Merlins. The tale has been told many times but briefly the SU carburetor was not equipped to handle negative “G” without first starving the engine for fuel and then over compensating and drowning the engine with an over rich mixture. The solution was disarmingly simple, a restrictor orifice fitted to the fuel supply line. In a way it’s too bad that Ms. Shilling’s reputation at the Royal Aircraft Establishment was based on this one, albeit major, accomplishment.
