Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major

Mistral Major
Gnome-Rhône 14s in a hangar in North Africa, 1943
Type	Radial engine
Manufacturer	Gnome et Rhône
First run	1929

The Gnome-Rhône 14K Mistral Major was a 14-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled radial engine. It was Gnome-Rhône's major aircraft engine prior to World War II, and matured into a highly sought-after design that would see licensed production throughout Europe and Japan. Thousands of Mistral Major engines were produced, used on a wide variety of aircraft.

Design and development

In 1921 Gnome-Rhône purchased a license for the highly successful Bristol Jupiter engine and produced it until about 1930, alongside the smaller Bristol Titan. Starting in 1926, however, they used the basic design of the Titan to produce a family of new engines, the so-called "K series". These started with the 5K Titan, followed by the 7K Titan Major and 9K Mistral. By 1930, 6,000 of these engines had been delivered.

However, the aircraft industry at that time was rapidly evolving and producing much larger aircraft that demanded larger engines to power them. Gnome-Rhône responded by developing the 7K into a two-row version that became the 14K Mistral Major. The first test examples were running in 1929.

Licence built derivatives

• Manfred Weiss WM K.14
• Piaggio P.XI
• IAR 14K
• Tumansky M-87

Applications

• Amiot 143
• Aero A.102
• Bloch MB.200
• Bloch MB.210
• Breguet 274
• Breguet 460
• Breguet 521
• Dornier Do 17K
• Farman F.222
• Loire 46 C1
• PZL P.24
• Potez 62
• Potez 651

Aircraft powered by G-R 14K derivatives

• Heinkel He 70
• MÁVAG Héja
• Weiss WM21 Sólyom
• Breda Ba.65
• Breda Ba.88
• Caproni Ca.135
• Caproni Ca.161
• CANT Z.1007
• CANT Z.1011
• Reggiane Re.2000
• Savoia-Marchetti SM.79
• Savoia-Marchetti SM.84
• IAR 37
• IAR 80
• Saab 17
• Ilyushin DB-3
• Sukhoi Su-2

Specifications (Gnome-Rhône 14Kdrs)

Data from ^[1]

General characteristics

• Type: Fourteen-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engine
• Bore: 146 mm (5.75 in)
• Stroke: 165 mm (6.5 in)
• Displacement: 38.72 l (2,363 in³)
• Diameter: 1,296 mm (51.02 in)
• Dry weight: 540 kg (1,190 lb)

Components

• Valvetrain: Overhead valves
• Supercharger: Single-speed centrifugal type supercharger
• Fuel system: Stromberg carburetor
• Fuel type: 87 octane rating gasoline
• Cooling system: Air-cooled
• Reduction gear: 2:3

Performance

• Power output:
  
  • 743 kW (996 hp) at 2,390 rpm for takeoff
  • 821 kW (1,100 hp) at 2,390 rpm at 2,600 m (8,530 ft)
• Specific power: 21.23 kW/l (0.47 hp/in³)
• Compression ratio: 5.5:1
• Specific fuel consumption: 328 g/(kW•h) (0.54 lb/(hp•h))
• Oil consumption: 20 g/(kW•h) (0.53 oz/(hp•h))
• Power-to-weight ratio: 1.52 kW/kg (0.92 hp/lb)

See also

Related development

• IAR 14K
• Piaggio P.XI
• Tumansky M-87
  

Related lists

• List of aircraft engines
  

References

1. ^ Tsygulev (1939). Aviacionnye motory voennykh vozdushnykh sil inostrannykh gosudarstv (Russian: Авиационные моторы военных воздушных сил иностранных государств). Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe voennoe izdatelstvo Narkomata Oborony Soyuza SSR. http://base13.glasnet.ru/text/aviamotory/t.htm. 

• Danel, Raymond and Cuny, Jean. L'aviation française de bombardement et de renseignement 1918-1940 Docavia n°12, Editions Larivière