The ADC Airdisco is a British V-8 aero engine that first ran in 1925.

Design and development

The 'Airdisco' was developed from the French

Renault 70 hp The Renault 70 hp or Type WB was a French V-8 aero engine that first ran circa 1907. It was also manufactured under license by Renault Limited of West Brompton, London between August 1914 and December 1918, three other companies, includin ...

aero engine by

Frank Halford Major Frank Bernard Halford CBE FRAeS (7 March 1894 – 16 April 1955) was an English aircraft engine designer. He is best known for the series of de Havilland Gipsy engines, widely used by light aircraft in the 1920s and 30s. Career Educat ...

of the

Aircraft Disposal Company The Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) or Airdisco, was a British firm established in March 1920 to take advantage of the large number of World War I-surplus military aircraft on the market.Gunston 2005, p.7. The company changed name in 1925 to ADC ...

, the main difference being the use of

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cylinder head In an internal combustion engine, the cylinder head (often abbreviated to simply "head") sits above the cylinders and forms the roof of the combustion chamber. In sidevalve engines, the head is a simple sheet of metal; whereas in more modern ov ...

s. Halford later used one bank of cylinders to create the

Cirrus Cirrus may refer to: Science *Cirrus (biology), any of various thin, thread-like structures on the body of an animal *Cirrus (botany), a tendril * Infrared cirrus, in astronomy, filamentary structures seen in infrared light *Cirrus cloud, a typ ...

engine.

Applications

* Avro 548A *

Cierva Parnall Gyroplane The Cierva Autogiro Company was a British firm established in 1926 to develop the autogyro. The company was set up to further the designs of Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish engineer and pilot, with the financial backing of James George Weir, a Scott ...

de Havilland DH.51 The de Havilland DH.51 is a 1920s British three-seat touring biplane built by de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware. Design and development De Havilland designed the DH.51 as an economical touring biplane, based on the 90 hp (67&n ...

* Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5A

Survivors

A de Havilland DH.51 owned and operated by the

Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aeronautical and automotive collection located at the Old Warden Aerodrome, Old Warden in Bedfordshire, England. It is the oldest in the world and one of the most prestigious, due to the variety of old a ...

Old Warden Old Warden is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about south-east of the county town of Bedford. The 2011 census shows its population as 328. The ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

remains airworthy and is powered by an original ADC Airdisco engine.Shuttleworth Collection - DH.51
Retrieved: 1 September 2009

Specifications (Airdisco)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. .

External links

{{ADC aeroengines 1920s aircraft piston engines Airdisco