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Wright R-540
The Wright R-540 Whirlwind was a series of 5-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by the Wright Aeronautical division of Curtiss-Wright. These engines had a displacement of 540 in³ (8.85 L) and a power rating of 165-175 hp (123-130 kW). They were the smallest members of the Wright Whirlwind engine family.
The Wright R-540 should not be confused with the Kinner R-540, a generally similar engine made by Kinner Airplane & Motor Corporation.
Contents
History
Wright first introduced the J-6 Whirlwind family in 1928. This family, which had larger cylinders than the previous J-5, originally included varieties with seven and nine cylinders. In 1929, Wright introduced a five-cylinder version, the J-6 Whirlwind Five, designated as R-540 by the U.S. government.
Like all the members of the J-6 Whirlwind family, the R-540 had a piston stroke of 5.5 in (14.0 cm), unchanged from the J-5, but a cylinder bore of 5.0 in (12.7 cm), expanded from the J-5's bore of 4.5 in (11.4 cm). While the J-5 was naturally aspirated, the R-540, like the other J-6 engines, had a gear-driven supercharger to boost its power output.
The R-540 was lighter and less powerful than previous examples in the Whirlwind family and was designed for small aircraft. One of the more popular types to use it was the Curtiss Robin, a light civil utility aircraft. A few were also used in trainer aircraft that were evaluated by the U.S. Army but not put into production.
The R-540 sold well at first, with over 400 engines being built in 1929.[1] However, with the impact of the Great Depression, sales plummeted, and only about 100 further examples were built over the next eight years.[1] Wright finally ceased production of five-cylinder Whirlwinds in 1937[1], concentrating on larger engines and leaving the market for small radials to companies like Kinner and Warner.
During Wright's production of the R-540, the engine was gradually refined, and its name also changed several times. Wright soon dropped their original "J-6" family designation and adopted the government's R-540 designation, with a suffix letter to indicate the version. The name changed from "Whirlwind Five" to Whirlwind 165, based on the engine's power rating of 165 hp (123 kW). In 1931, the R-540E was introduced, with an improved cylinder head boosting power to 175 hp (130 kW), and the name was updated to Whirlwind 175.[2]
Since R-540 engines were found solely in light aircraft, they weren't normally used for groundbreaking flights. However, there were a couple of noteworthy exceptions which took advantage of the Whirlwind family's reputation for high reliability. In 1935, the brothers Al and Fred Key set a new flight endurance record of 653 hours, 34 minutes in the Curtiss Robin J-1 Ole Miss, flying over Meridian, Mississippi, from June 4 to July 1. Their plane was refueled and resupplied in flight, and they could perform simple engine maintenance by walking out on a small catwalk extending between the cabin and the engine. Douglas "Wrong-Way" Corrigan's famous unauthorized transatlantic flight from New York City to Dublin, Ireland on July 17-18, 1938, used a Curtiss Robin with an R-540 built from the parts of two used engines.
Variants
- J-6 Whirlwind Five: Original production version, 1929.
- R-540A Whirlwind 165: Slightly later version, 165 hp (123 kW) @ 2,000 RPM. U.S. Army designation R-540-1.[3]
- R-540E Whirlwind 175: Version with improved cylinder head, 1931, 175 hp (130 kW) @ 2,000 RPM. U.S. Army designation R-540-3.[3]
- GR-540E: R-540E with propeller reduction gearing of 1.58:1 or 2:1.[4]
Applications
- Curtiss Robin J-1
- Kreider-Reisner Challenger C-4C (Fairchild KR-34C)
- Spartan C3-165
- Stinson Junior SM-2AA and SM-2AB
- Travel Air E-4000
- Waco BSO
- Waco BEC
Engines on display
Wright R-540 engines on display are uncommon, but there is one at the Strategic Air and Space Museum (formerly the Strategic Air Command Museum) near Ashland, Nebraska.[5]
Specifications (R-540E Whirlwind 175)
See also
Related lists
See also
Lists relating to aviation | |
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| General | Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines |
| Military | Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft |
| Notable incidents and accidents | Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths |
| Records | Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Template:Citation. Transcribed from Wright Aeronautical documents by Robert J. Neal T; available from the Aircraft Engine Historical Society's reference page.
- ↑ Template:Citation. Available from the Aircraft Engine Historical Society's reference page.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Template:Citation. Available from the Aircraft Engine Historical Society's page for this document.
- ↑ Template:Citation. Available from the FAA's Regulatory and Guidance Library.
- ↑ Template:Citation. This personal collection of museum aircraft engine photos includes a photo of a Wright R-540 under the SAC Museum section. (The page mislabels it as a "Wright R-540 J-5"—there never was a five-cylinder version of the J-5.)
Template:Wright aeroengines Template:US military piston aeroengines
Lists relating to aviation | |
|---|---|
| General | Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines |
| Military | Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft |
| Notable incidents and accidents | Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths |
| Records | Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft |
| This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wright R-540". |
