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    The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928
    The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928
    The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928
    Ebook112 pages2 hours

    The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928

    By Robert B. Meyer

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928

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      Book preview

      The First Airplane Diesel Engine - Robert B. Meyer

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard

      Model DR-980 of 1928, by Robert B. Meyer

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

      Title: The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928

      Author: Robert B. Meyer

      Release Date: January 20, 2010 [EBook #31023]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST AIRPLANE DIESEL ENGINE ***

      Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Stephanie Eason,

      and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at

      http://www.pgdp.net.

      Frontispiece—President Herbert Hoover (in front of microphones) presenting the Collier Trophy to Alvan Macauley (nearest engine), President of the Packard Motor Car Co., on March 31, 1932 (although the award was for 1931). Also present were Hiram Bingham, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (nearest pillar), Clarence M. Young, Director of Aeronautics, U.S. Department of Commerce (between Macauley and Hoover), and Amelia Earhart, first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (between Macauley and the engine). In the foreground is a cutaway Packard diesel aeronautical engine and directly in front of Senator Bingham is the Collier Trophy, America’s highest aviation award. (Smithsonian photo A48825.)

      SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT

      VOLUME 1 · NUMBER 2

      The First Airplane Diesel Engine:

      Packard Model DR-980 of 1928

      Robert B. Meyer

      Curator of Flight Propulsion

      SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM

      WASHINGTON, D.C. · 1964

      The following microfilm prints are available at the Smithsonian Institution:

      The Packard Diesel Aircraft Engine—A New Chapter in Transportation Progress. An advertising brochure produced by the Packard Motor Car Company in 1930, illustrated, 17 pages.

      Fifty-Hour Test of the Engine by the Packard Company, 1930. Text and charts, 14 pages.

      Fifty-Hour Test of the Engine by the U.S. Navy in 1931: Text and charts, 26 pages.

      Packard Instructional Manual, 1931. Illustrated, 74 pages.

      The Packard Diesel Engine, Aviation Institute of U.S.A. Pamphlet No. 21-A, 1930. Illustrated, 32 pages.

      For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

      Washington, D.C., 20402—Price 60 cents

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      It is difficult to acknowledge fully the assistance given by persons and museums for the preparation of this book. However, I wish especially to thank Hugo T. Byttebier, engine historian, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dipl. Ing. Hermann I. A. Dorner, diesel designer, Hanover, Germany; Harold E. Morehouse, and C. H. Wiegman, Lycoming Engines, Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Barry Tully, Goodyear Aircraft, Akron, Ohio; Richard S. Allen, aviation author, Round Lake, New York; William H. Cramer, brother of Parker D. Cramer, Wantagh, New York; Erik Hildes-Heim, Early Bird and aviation historian, Fairfield, Connecticut.

      I am particularly grateful to curators of the following museums who have been so generous in their assistance: Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany (Dipl. Ing. W. Jackle); Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan (Leslie, R. Henry); U.S. Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio (Maj. Robert L. Bryant, Jr., director); Science Museum, London, England (Lt. Comdr. (E) W. J. Tuck, Royal Navy). The preparation of this paper could not have been accomplished without the aid of the National Air Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and the help of Philip S. Hopkins, director, and Paul E. Garber, head curator and historian.

      Foreword

      In this second number of the Smithsonian Annals of Flight, Robert B. Meyer Jr., curator and head of the flight propulsion division, tells the story of the first oil-burning engine to power an airplane, the Packard diesel engine of 1928, now in the collections of the National Air Museum.

      The author’s narrative, well illustrated with drawings and photographs, provides a historical background for the development of the engine, and a technical description that includes specifications and details of performance. It also contains comments from men and women who flew planes powered by the Packard diesel. The author concludes with an analysis of the engine’s advantages and disadvantages.

      Philip S. Hopkins

      Director, National Air Museum

      30 July 1964

      Introduction

      On display in the National Air Museum, Smithsonian Institution, is the first oil-burning engine to power an airplane. Its label reads: Packard Diesel Engine—1928—This first compression-ignition engine to power an airplane developed 225 hp at 1950 revolutions per minute. It was designed under the direction of L. M. Woolson. In 1931, a production example of this engine powered a Bellanca airplane to an 84 hour and 33 minute nonrefueled duration record which has never been equalled.—Weight/power ratio: 2.26 lb per hp—Gift of Packard Motor Car Co.

      Figure 1 (left).—Front view of first Packard diesel, 1928. Note hoop holding cylinders in place and absence of

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