The Franklin Engine Company was an American manufacturer of

aircraft engines An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

. Its designs were used primarily in the civilian market, both in fixed wing and helicopter designs. It was briefly directed towards automobile engines as part of the Tucker Car Corporation, returning to aviation when that company failed. The company was later purchased by the Government of Poland.

History

The firm began as the H. H. Franklin Co. in 1902 in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, to produce Franklin air-cooled automobiles. Barely surviving bankruptcy in 1933, the company was purchased by a group of ex-employees and renamed Aircooled Motors in 1937. While the company kept the name of "Aircooled Motors," its engines continued to be marketed under the Franklin name. Engineers Carl Doman and Ed Marks kept the company alive through the depression by manufacturing air-cooled truck and industrial engines. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Aircooled Motors was very successful producing helicopter and airplane engines. Several aircraft carried its engines, including the

Aero-Flight Streak The Aero-Flight Streak was an American two-seat light aircraft built in 1946 by Aero-Flight Aircraft Corporation at Buffalo, New York. Advanced for its time, it was of all-metal construction with tricycle undercarriage, and accommodated the pi ...

Bartlett Zephyr __NOTOC__ The Bartlett LC-13A Zephyr 150 was a United States light civil aircraft built in the 1940s. It was a mid-wing braced monoplane of conventional design with side-by-side seating for two and fixed, Conventional landing gear, tailwheel under ...

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

Bellanca Cruisair The Bellanca 14-7 Cruisair and its successors were a family of single-engined light aircraft manufactured in the United States from the mid-1930s onwards.Palmer 2001, p. 51. Design and development Bellanca established itself in the market for ...

Brantly B-1 The Brantly B-1 was a 2-seat, coaxial-rotor helicopter designed by Newby O. Brantly and constructed by the Pennsylvania Elastic Company, Brantly's employer. Design and development In 1946, Brantly started flight testing the B-1 prototype (NX691 ...

Goodyear Duck The Goodyear GA-2 Duck was a 1940s American three-seat light amphibious aircraft built by the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation. The design team included David Thurston, who later developed several other light seaplanes including the Colonial Skimmer ...

, H-23 Raven, Hiller 360, Piper J-3F Cub,

Seibel S-4 The Seibel S-4 was a two-bladed, single-engine helicopter built by Seibel Helicopter. Designed by Charles Seibel, the S-4 was evaluated by the United States Army under the designation ''YH-24 Sky Hawk'', but would be rejected for service. The ...

Sikorsky S-52 The Sikorsky S-52 is a utility helicopter developed by Sikorsky Aircraft in the late 1940s. It was used by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.Donald 1997, p. 840. The S-52 was the first US helicopter with all-metal rotor blades. Initial ...

Stinson Voyager The Stinson Voyager was a 1940s American light utility monoplane built by the Stinson Aircraft Company. Development First developed as the Stinson HW-75 and marketed as the Model 105 in 1939, the design was a high-wing three-seat braced monopla ...

Taylorcraft 15 Taylorcraft Aviation is an airplane manufacturer that has been producing aircraft for more than 70 years in several locations. The company builds small single-engined airplanes. The Taylorcraft design is a conventional layout: high-wing, fab ...

, Temco TE-1B, and the YT-35 Buckaroo. Aircooled Motors was purchased by

Republic Aviation Company The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and production of many important ...

in 1945 to produce engines for its

Republic Seabee The Republic RC-3 Seabee is an all-metal amphibious sports aircraft designed by Percival Spencer and manufactured by the Republic Aircraft Corporation. Design and development The RC-3 Seabee was designed by Percival Hopkins "Spence" Spence ...

light amphibious aircraft. After the war, demand for the engines dropped dramatically and Republic was unsure of the company's future. In 1947 Aircooled Motors was purchased for the price of $1.8 million by the

Tucker Car Corporation Preston Thomas Tucker (21 September 1903 – 26 December 1956) was an American automobile entrepreneur. He is most remembered for his Tucker 48 sedan, initially nicknamed the "Tucker Torpedo", an automobile which introduced many features t ...

to produce an engine for the

1948 Tucker Sedan The Tucker 48, commonly referred to as the Tucker Torpedo, was an automobile conceived by Preston Tucker while in Ypsilanti, Michigan and briefly produced in Chicago, Illinois in 1948. Only 51 cars were made including their prototype before the c ...

.Egan, Philip S.; Design and Destiny: The Making of the Tucker Automobile; On the Mark Publications; 1989 After purchasing Aircooled Motors, Tucker cancelled all of the company's aircraft contracts so that its resources could be focused on making automotive engines for the Tucker Corporation. This was a significant event, since at the time of Tucker's purchase Aircooled Motors held over 65% of postwar U.S. aviation engine production contracts. For this reason, when the Tucker Car Corporation failed amidst allegations of stock fraud, Aircooled nearly failed with it. Tucker and the Tucker family owned the firm until 1961, when it was sold to Aero Industries, which restored the name Franklin Engine Company. In 1975 the

government of Poland The Government of Poland takes the form of a Unitary state, unitary Parliamentary republic, parliamentary Representative democracy, representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Poland, President is the head of state and the Prime ...

bought the company and moved it to

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian Vo ...

, first under the name PZL-Franklin and later PZL-F. The company is now called Franklin Aircraft Engines Sp. z o.o. with the address ul. Chełmińska 208 in 86-300 Grudziądz city in Poland. At Aero Friedrichshafen 2016 the company had new engines on display. The innovations include modifications to the type certificate of the 6A-350; the approval for MOGAS, as well as fuel injection is pending at

EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...

Products

''Note: The engine displacement designations are fictional unless the engine was given a designation by the US military

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Gunston, Bill. (1986). ''World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines''. Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough. p. 57

External links