The de Havilland Gipsy Major or Gipsy IIIA is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
used in a variety of light
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
produced in the 1930s, including the famous
Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
. Many Gipsy Major engines still power vintage aircraft types.
Engines were produced by de Havilland in the UK and by the Australian arm of the company,
de Havilland Australia
de Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd (DHA) was part of de Havilland, then became a separate company. It acquired the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in 1985 and was purchased by Boeing in 2000 and merged with the Boeing owned AeroSpace Technologie ...
, the latter modifying the design to use
imperial measures rather than the original
metric measurements.
Design and development
The engine was a slightly modified Gipsy III, which was effectively a
de Havilland Gipsy
The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre (300 ...
engine modified to run inverted so that the cylinders pointed downwards below the
crankcase
In a piston engine, the crankcase is the housing that surrounds the crankshaft. In most modern engines, the crankcase is integrated into the engine block.
Two-stroke engines typically use a crankcase-compression design, resulting in the fuel/a ...
. The Major was also bored-out (118 mm from 114 mm) compared to the Gipsy III, increasing displacement from 5 L to 6.1 L.
The inverted configuration allowed the
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
shaft to be kept in a high position without having the cylinders blocking the pilot's forward view over the nose of the aircraft.
One initial disadvantage of the inverted configuration was the high oil consumption (up to four pints per hour) requiring regular refills of the external oil tank; this problem improved over time with the use of modified
piston ring
A piston ring is a metallic split ring that is attached to the outer diameter of a piston in an internal combustion engine or steam engine.
The main functions of piston rings in engines are:
# Sealing the combustion chamber so that there is mini ...
s. First built in 1932, total production of all Gipsy Major versions was 14,615 units.
Further development
In 1934, when
Geoffrey de Havilland
Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built,D ...
needed a more powerful engine for his twin-engined transport aircraft, the four-cylinder Gipsy Major was further developed into the 200 hp six-cylinder
Gipsy Six
The de Havilland Gipsy Six is a British six-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline piston engine developed by the de Havilland Engine Company for aircraft use in the 1930s. It was based on the cylinders of the four-cylinder Gipsy Major and w ...
. In 1937 even more power was needed for the new
D.H.91 Albatross four-engined transatlantic mailplane, and so two Gipsy Six cylinder banks were combined to form one
Gipsy Twelve 12-cylinder inverted
Vee. In military service, the Gipsy Twelve became known as the
Gipsy King
''Gipsy King'' ( es, Rey gitano, links=no) is a 2015 Spanish comedy road movie written and directed by Juanma Bajo Ulloa. The cast features Manuel Manquiña, Karra Elejalde, Arturo Valls, María León, Rosa María Sardá, Charo López, Pilar Ba ...
and the Gipsy Six the
Gipsy Queen.
The advent of World War II cut short all civilian flying and after the war de Havilland was too busy concentrating on jet engines to put much energy into its piston engines. The Gipsy did not go without a fight though. In Canada the Gipsy Major was the engine of choice for the
DHC1 Chipmunk trainer, which replaced the Tiger Moth trainer in
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
service after the war. By then however, the Gipsy Major was eclipsed by the
Blackburn Cirrus Major
The Blackburn Cirrus Major is a British, inline-four aircraft engine that was developed in the late 1930s.
Design and development
The Blackburn Cirrus Major started life as a continued evolution of the original Cirrus and Hermes series of air ...
in Britain and the American
Lycoming and
Continental
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* ''Continental'' ( ...
horizontally opposed engine
A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, wh ...
s abroad. (In a twist of irony, the Blackburn itself was based on
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 ...
’s old
ADC Cirrus
The ADC Cirrus is a series of British aero engines manufactured using
surplus Renault parts by the Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) in the 1920s.
The engines were air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types. They were widely used for private and li ...
engine; Blackburn had bought the licence in 1934).
In its final
supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
form, the Gipsy Major used in helicopter applications delivered 220 hp (164 kW).
By 1945 the Gipsy Major had been cleared for a world record 1,500 hours
time between overhaul
Time between overhauls (abbreviated as TBO or TBOH) is the manufacturer's recommended number of running hours or calendar time before an aircraft engine or other component requires overhaul.
On rotorcraft, many components have recommended or man ...
(TBO), surpassing its previously held world record of 1,260 hours TBO achieved in 1943. 1,000 hours TBO had earlier been achieved in 1938.
Variants
![DHGipsyMajor50](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/DHGipsyMajor50.JPG)
;Gipsy Major I:
;Gipsy Major IC:Higher
compression ratio
The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values.
A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the stati ...
(6:1) and maximum RPM for racing use.
;Gipsy Major ID:Fuel pump added, plus screened ignition harness and priming system.
;Gipsy Major IF:Aluminium
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, 5.25:1 compression ratio.
;Gipsy Major II:Variable pitch propeller
;Gipsy Major 7:Military version of Gipsy Major 1D, increased climb RPM.
;Gipsy Major 8:Sodium cooled exhaust valves, cartridge starter for DHC Chipmunk.
;Gipsy Major 10:Electric starter option.
;Gipsy Major 30:Major redesign, bore and stroke increased. 6.5:1 compression ratio.
;Gipsy Major 50:Supercharged. 197 hp.
;Gipsy Major 200:Designed as a light helicopter engine. 200 hp.
;Gipsy Major 215:Turbo-supercharged helicopter engine. 220 hp.
;
Alfa Romeo 110
The Alfa Romeo 110 was an Italian four cylinder air-cooled inverted inline engine for aircraft use, mainly for trainers and light aircraft. The Alfa Romeo 110 was based on the de Havilland Gipsy Major, with approximately 500 units produced. Deriv ...
:Alfa Romeo licence production/derivative
;de Havilland L-375-1:US military designation for the Gipsy Major I
;IAR 4-G1:
IAR licence produced in Romania
Applications
![DHGipsyMajorengineDrover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/DHGipsyMajorengineDrover.JPG)
''Application list from Lumsden unless otherwise noted.''
Surviving engines
Many Gipsy Major engines remain in service today worldwide, in the United Kingdom alone approximately 175
de Havilland Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
s were noted on the
Civil Aviation Authority
A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register.
Role
Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...
register in September 2011 although not all of these aircraft were airworthy.
G-INFO, UK CAA database - DH.82
Retrieved: 10 September 2011
Engines on display
Examples of the Gipsy Major are on display at the following museums:
* de Havilland Aircraft Museum
The de Havilland Aircraft Museum, formerly the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, is a volunteer-run aviation museum in London Colney, Hertfordshire, England. The collection is built around the definitive prototype and restoration shops f ...
* Fleet Air Arm Museum
The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintin ...
* 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 ...
* Royal Air Force Museum Cosford
The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a free (currently, 2022) museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departme ...
Specifications (Gipsy Major I)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Bransom, Alan. ''The Tiger Moth Story, Fourth Edition''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1991. .
* ''Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II''. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1989.
* Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. .
*
*
External links
Royal Air Force Museum - Gipsy Major
{{US military piston aeroengines
Gipsy Major
Air-cooled aircraft piston engines
1930s aircraft piston engines
Inverted aircraft piston engines