The de Havilland Gipsy Queen is a British six-cylinder aero engine of capacity that was developed in 1936 by the

de Havilland Engine Company The de Havilland Engine Company was an offshoot of the de Havilland aircraft building company, which started life as the 'Engine Division of the de Havilland Aircraft Company' in 1926 producing the famous de Havilland Gipsy aero-engine. The c ...

. It was developed from the

de Havilland 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 ...

for military aircraft use. Produced between 1936 and 1950 Gipsy Queen engines still power vintage

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...

aircraft types today.

Variants

''Note:'' ;Gipsy Queen I :(1936) , military version of Gipsy Six II. Splined crankshaft, but intended for fix-pitch airscrews fitted with an adapter. No fittings for a VP airscrew fitted. Very limited production. ;Gipsy Queen II :(1936) , military version of the Gipsy Six Series II. Strengthened crankcase. Splined crankshaft for V/P airscrew. ;Gipsy Queen III :(1940) , military version of Gipsy Six, strengthened crankcase, tapered crankshaft for fixed-pitch;-1,358 built. Most of these engines were fitted with a very basic top-cover, as per the early Gipsy-Six, with no accessory drives at the rear of the top-cover whatsoever. ;Gipsy Queen IV :(1941) Supercharged version, originally designated Gipsy Queen IIIS, designated Gipsy Queen 50 in June 1944. Only a handful were made. This engine was widely advertised at the time, however, it never entered production, as it was superseded by the completely re-engineered Queen 30. De Havilland Gipsy Queen 30

;Gipsy Queen 30; All-new engine from this point. (120 mm x 150 mm = 10.18 L) :(1946) , 1,762 built. ;Gipsy Queen 30-2 :(1946) . ;Gipsy Queen 30-3 :(1946) . ;Gipsy Queen 30-4 :(1946) . ;Gipsy Queen 32 :(1946) . ;Gipsy Queen 33 :As Gipsy Queen 30 for pusher installation. ;Gipsy Queen 34 :As Gipsy Queen 30. ;Gipsy Queen 50 :(1944) , Single-speed, single stage supercharger. 14 built. ;Gipsy Queen 51 :, as Gipsy Queen 50. ;Gipsy Queen 70-1 :(1946) Renamed Gipsy Six S.G, 1,889 built. Supercharged with reduction-drive. ;Gipsy Queen 70-2 :3. Supercharged with reduction-drive. ;Gipsy Queen 70-3 :. Supercharged with reduction-drive. ;Gipsy Queen 70-4 :. Supercharged with reduction-drive. ;Gipsy Queen 71 :(1950) . Supercharged with reduction-drive. ;Gipsy Queen 136 UK Ministry of Defence designation of Gipsy Queen 30-2

Applications

Surviving engines

Of the 11 Gipsy Queen-powered

de Havilland Dove The de Havilland DH.104 Dove is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland. The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane, came about from the Brabazon Committee report whic ...

s on the British register, only two remain airworthy . A Gipsy Queen II powered 1936

Percival Mew Gull The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racing ...

''(G-AEXF)'' is 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 ...

in the UK, and flies regularly at home, and limited away airshows, subject to serviceability.

Engines on display

A preserved de Havilland Gipsy Queen engine is on public display at the

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 ...

.de Havilland Gipsy Queen 175 - www.rafmuseum.org.uk
Retrieved: 4 April 2021

Specifications (Gipsy Queen I)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* ''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. . * Gunston, Bill. ''Development of Piston Aero Engines''. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1999. . {{DHaeroengines Air-cooled aircraft piston engines Gipsy Queen 1930s aircraft piston engines Inverted aircraft piston engines Straight-six engines