Wilksch Airmotive Ltd

Wilksch Airmotive Ltd is a UK based company which designs and manufactures Compression Ignition Engines for light aircraft.

The company, founded in 1994 by Mark Wilksch, manufacture two-stroke compression ignition engines, an 80 horse-power version of which became the first two-stroke diesel aircraft engine to fly in over 50 years after its' maiden flight in a Piper J-3 on 21 November 1997.

The Wilksch technology allows aircraft to run on Jet-A1 fuel used for jet engines, which is widespread and cheaper than Avgas.

The company then concentrated on developing a three cylinder 120hp engine which first flew in Dec 1999 In 2005 the Wilksch company announced a manufacturing deal with Lister Petter - effectively the WAM (WIlksch Air Motive) company would lease space but would actually manufacture themselves at the Lister Petter factory in Gloucestershire UK In the following 18 months some 30 engines were made - to date it is believed that about 10 are flying in kit built aircraft in places as far apart as Brazil, Sweden , France and the UK In 2006 the company faced financial difficulties - not uncommon with such high tech/high design demand scenarios. A group of existing shareholders increased their investment and took overall control though the composition of the private shareholding remains broadly the same. Mark Wilksch the founder left the company in any operational role later that year. It is known he took on a development role with Continental Engines in the US.

As far as is known WAM ceased production of the existing design and returned to development with the aim of creating an engine which could be built economically. In 2008 the company is rumoured to be nearing the end of that process and ready to return to production.

External links

*http://www.wilksch.com/ "Wilksch Airmotive Ltd homepage"

Wilksch Airmotive moved into premises at Gloucestershire Airport (EGBJ) Uk,at the end of 2007 where they continue to test and develop this unique diesel engine. They have test cells in which they run the engines to JAR cycles. One of their development partners is situated in a hangar close by and this project can be seen on www.LongEzediesel.com