The Gnome 7 Lambda was a French designed, seven-cylinder,
air-cooled
Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...
rotary aero engine
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 ...
that was produced under license in Britain and Germany. Powering several
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
-era aircraft types it was claimed to produce from its
capacity of although recorded figures are lower.
[Lumsden 2003, p. 151.]
Just under 1,000 units were produced in Britain, the majority (967) by the
Daimler Company
The Daimler Company Limited ( ), prior to 1910 The Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The compan ...
of
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
. A 14-cylinder variant was known as the Gnome 14 Lambda-Lambda.
In Germany
Motorenfabrik Oberursel
Motorenfabrik Oberursel A.G. was a German manufacturer of automobile, locomotive and aircraft engines situated in Oberursel (Taunus), near Frankfurt (Main), Germany. During World War I it supplied a major 100 hp-class rotary engine that was us ...
license-built the seven-cylinder engine as the Oberursel U.0 and later copied the 14-cylinder design and designated it as the Oberursel U.III.
Variants
;Gnome 7 Lambda
:Seven-cylinder, single-row rotary engine.
;Gnome 7 Lambda (long stroke)
:Increased
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
of to raise the
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 ...
to 3.87:1, and total displacement to .
;Gnome 14 Double Lambda
:14-cylinder, two-row rotary engine using Lambda cylinders. .
;Motorenfabrik Oberursel U.0
:German production of the Gnome 7 Lambda – had a cylinder bore and piston stroke for a total displacement of , external diameter of .
;Motorenfabrik Oberursel U.III: :German production of the Gnome 14 Double Lambda
Applications
''List from Lumsden''
![Sopwith Tabloid RAFM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Sopwith_Tabloid_RAFM.jpg)
Gnome 7 Lambda
*
Avro 504
The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...
*
Blackburn Type I
The Blackburn Type I was a single-engine civil two-seat monoplane built in the United Kingdom in 1913. Three were produced and used for flying demonstrations and training including seaplane pilotage.
Development
The first Type I was built to ...
*
Borel hydro-monoplane
*
Blériot Parasol Blériot may refer to:
* Louis Blériot, a French aviation pioneer
* Blériot Aéronautique, an aircraft manufacturer founded by Louis Blériot
* Blériot-Whippet
The Blériot-Whippet was a British 4 wheeled cyclecar made from 1920 to 1927 by t ...
*
Blériot XI
The Blériot XI is a French aircraft of the pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. This is one of the most fam ...
*
Bristol Boxkite
The Boxkite (officially the Bristol Biplane) was the first aircraft produced by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company). A pusher biplane based on the successful Farman III, it was one of the ...
*
Bristol Gordon England G.E.3
*
Bristol-Coanda Monoplanes
*
Bristol Coanda T.B.8
*
Bristol Coanda P.B.8
*
Bristol Scout
The Bristol Scout was a single-seat rotary-engined biplane originally designed as a racing aircraft. Like similar fast, light aircraft of the period it was used by the RNAS and the RFC as a "scout", or fast reconnaissance type. It was one of t ...
*
Caudron G.III
The Caudron G.3 was a single-engined French sesquiplane built by Caudron, widely used in World War I as a reconnaissance aircraft and trainer.
Development
The Caudron G.3 was designed by René and Gaston Caudron as a development of their earlie ...
*
Deperdussin Type B
The 1910 Deperdussin monoplane was the first aircraft to be built in significant quantities by Aéroplanes Deperdussin. The type was produced in a number of variants which were flown successfully in air races and gained several records during 1 ...
*
Dunne D.8
The Dunne D.8 of 1912 was a tailless swept wing biplane, designed by J. W. Dunne to have inherent stability. One example was supplied to RAE Farnborough. License-built Burgess-Dunne models were used by the US Signal Corps and United States ...
*
Henry Farman F.20
*
Grahame-White Type XV
The Grahame White Type XV was a military trainer biplane produced in the United Kingdom before and during World War I. It is often referred to as the Box-kite, although this name more properly describes the Grahame-White Type XII, an earlier a ...
*
London & Provincial 4
*
Lowe Marlburian
__NOTOC__
The Lowe Marlburian was a 1920s British two-seat monoplane design by F. Harold Lowe.
Design and development
The Marlburian was a two-seat braced monoplane powered by a Gnome
A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive sp ...
*
Nieuport IVG
*
Nieuport 10
The Nieuport 10 (or Nieuport XB in contemporary sources) was a French First World War sesquiplane that filled a wide variety of roles, including reconnaissance, fighter and trainer.
Design and development
In January 1914, designer Gustave Delag ...
*
Nieuport-Macchi Parasol
The Nieuport-Macchi Parasol was a single-engine observation aircraft produced by the Italy, Italian aeronautical company Nieuport-Macchi in the early 1910s. It was the first aircraft designed independently by Aermacchi, Macchi, which until then ha ...
*
Radley-England Waterplane
*
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.3
*
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.4
*
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.8
The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.8 was a British two-seat single-engined general purpose biplane of the First World War, designed by John Kenworthy at the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1913.Hare 1990, p. 171. Small numbers were used by the Royal Fly ...
*
Royal Aircraft Factory B.S.1
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.2 (Scout Experimental) was an early British single-seat scout aircraft. Designed and built at the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1912–13 as the B.S.1, the prototype was rebuilt several times before serving with the ...
*
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.2
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.2 (Scout Experimental) was an early British single-seat scout aircraft. Designed and built at the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1912–13 as the B.S.1, the prototype was rebuilt several times before serving with the R ...
*
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.2
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.2 (Scout Experimental) was an early British single-seat scout aircraft. Designed and built at the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1912–13 as the B.S.1, the prototype was rebuilt several times before serving with the R ...
*
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.4
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.4 was a single-engined, single seat biplane designed and built at the Royal Aircraft Factory just prior to the start of the First World War. Intended to be as fast as possible, it recorded a speed of 135 mph ...
*
Short S.37
*
Short S.38
The Short S.38 was an early British aircraft built by Short Brothers.
Design and development
The Short S.38 was originally a Short S.27 with the manufacturer's number S.38. After an accident when hoisting this aircraft aboard the remains were r ...
*
Short S.41
The Short S.41 was a British single-engined biplane built for the Royal Navy in 1912. Capable of being operated either on wheels or floats, it was successful enough for a further two similar aircraft to be built, with the type remaining in us ...
*
Short S.60
*
Short S.70
*
Sikorsky S-7
*
Sopwith Gordon Bennett Racer
*
Sopwith Pup
The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...
*
Sopwith Sociable
The Sopwith Sociable (or sometimes Churchill or TweenieRobertson 1970, p. 211.) was a British single-engined two-seat tractor configuration biplane designed and built by Sopwith for the Royal Naval Air Service.
Design and development
The Soc ...
*
Sopwith Tabloid
The Sopwith Tabloid and Sopwith Schneider (floatplane) were British biplanes, originally designed as sports aircraft and later adapted for military use. They were among the first successful types to be built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. The ...
*
Sopwith Three-Seater
The Sopwith Three-seater was a British aircraft designed and built prior to the start of the First World War. One of the first aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company, it was operated by both the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the Ro ...
*
Vickers No.8 Monoplane
Gnome 14 Lambda-Lambda
*
Avro 510
The Avro 510 was a two-seat racing seaplane designed by Avro to compete in the 1914 Circuit of Britain Race. It was a conventional two-bay biplane of greatly uneven span, equipped with two large central floats and two outriggers. The race wa ...
*
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.4
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.4 was a single-engined, single seat biplane designed and built at the Royal Aircraft Factory just prior to the start of the First World War. Intended to be as fast as possible, it recorded a speed of 135 mph ...
*
Deperdussin Monocoque
The Deperdussin Monocoque was an early racing aircraft built in 1912 by the Aéroplanes Deperdussin, a French aircraft manufacturer started in 1911 and reorganized as the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés ( SPAD) in 1913. It is so nam ...
*
Fokker D.III
The Fokker D.III (Fokker designation M.19) was a German single-seat fighter aircraft of World War I. It saw limited frontline service before being withdrawn from combat in December 1916.
Design and development
The M.19 began as an effort to impr ...
*
Fokker E.IV
The Fokker E.IV was the final variant of the Fokker Eindecker, ''Eindecker'' fighter aircraft that was operated by Germany during World War I.
Design and development
Given the Fokker designation of M.15, the E.IV was essentially a lengthened F ...
*
Paul Schmitt P.S.3
*
Short S.63
The Short Admiralty Type 81 was a series of United Kingdom, British two-seat floatplanes built prior to the First World War, and used by the Royal Naval Air Service in the early years of the war. They were powered by Gnome Lambda-Lambda 14 cyl ...
*
Short S.64
*
Short S.70
*
Short S.74
The Short Admiralty Type 74 was a single-engined biplane tractor seaplane with non-folding wings, which saw service with the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War.
Design and development
The Type 74 incorporated some of the inno ...
*
Short S.80
The Short S.80 was an early British floatplane built by Short Brothers for Frank McClean to undertake an aerial expedition up the Nile to investigate the cataracts between Aswan and Khartoum. After a successful flight to Khartoum it was returned ...
*
Short S.81
__NOTOC__
The Short S.81 was an experimental British gun-carrying pusher biplane seaplane, ordered from Short Brothers by the British Admiralty in 1913 for use by the Royal Naval Air Service.
The seaplane, manufacturers serial number S.81, w ...
*
Short S.82
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
Survivors
An original Gnome 7 Lambda engine is installed in the
Sopwith Tabloid
The Sopwith Tabloid and Sopwith Schneider (floatplane) were British biplanes, originally designed as sports aircraft and later adapted for military use. They were among the first successful types to be built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. The ...
replica aircraft on display in the
Grahame-White
Grahame-White was an early British aircraft manufacturer, flying school and later manufacturer of cyclecars.
The company was established as ''Grahame-White Aviation Company'' by Claude Grahame-White at Hendon in 1911. The firm built mostly aircra ...
hall of the
Royal Air Force Museum London
The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. It is part of the Royal Air Forc ...
.
RAF Museum – Sopwith Tabloid replica history
Retrieved: 11 November 2010.
Specifications (Gnome 7 Lambda)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. .
{{Oberursel aeroengines
Air-cooled aircraft piston engines
1910s aircraft piston engines
Lambda
Lambda (}, ''lám(b)da'') is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant . In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . Lambda gave rise ...
Rotary aircraft piston engines