Patent 9096312 was granted and assigned to Rolls-Royce on August, 2015 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An aircraft (40). The aircraft (40) comprises a propulsion system comprising a pair of internal combustion engines (10) each driving an electrical power generator (56), each electrical power generator (56) being electrically coupled to a plurality of electrically driven propulsors (46). The propulsors (46) are located forward of a leading edge (45) of the wings (44) such that an airstream generated by the propulsors flows over the wings (44) in use. Each internal combustion engine (10) and electrical generator (56) is mounted on a respective wing (44) outboard of a center of thrust (70) of the propulsors (46) on that wing (44).