The Bristol Titan was a British five-cylinder air-cooled

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

, designed and built by the

Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...

in the late 1920s. It had the same size cylinders as the earlier

Bristol Mercury The Bristol Mercury is a British nine-cylinder, air-cooled, single-row, piston radial engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from ...

engine, (displacing ), and produced between . Later versions of the Bristol Titan also used a

Farman Farman Aviation Works (french: Avions Farman) was a French aircraft company founded and run by the brothers Richard, Henri, and Maurice Farman. They designed and constructed aircraft and engines from 1908 until 1936; during the French national ...

-style reduction gear produced by Gnome-Rhône.

Design and development

The engine was designed as a five-cylinder radial, to use as many parts of the

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turn ...

as possible. Cylinders, pistons, articulated connecting rods, crankshaft and other minor parts were interchangeable with the Jupiter.Flight International 5 July 1928
/ref> The major significance of the Titan was that it was licensed to Gnome-Rhône and became the pattern for the ''Gnome-Rhône 5B and 5K''. In 1927 Gnome-Rhône was looking for ways out of its licence agreement with Bristol for the

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

engine of 1920 and began to produce the Gnome-Rhône 5B and 5K without royalties. Gnome-Rhône was not satisfied with simply producing Bristol designs under licence, and started a major design effort based around the mechanics of the Titan engine. The results were introduced in 1927 as the K-series, spanning the Gnome-Rhône 5K Titan, the seven-cylinder

Gnome-Rhône 7K The Gnome-Rhône 7K Titan Major was a seven-cylinder 370 hp (270 kW) air-cooled radial engine, that started life as an enlarged Gnome-Rhône 5K with two extra cylinders. Development The Gnome-Rhône 5K was itself a licensed version of ...

Titan Major, and the nine-cylinder

Gnome-Rhône 9K The Gnome-Rhône 9K Mistral was a nine-cylinder 550 hp (405 kW) to 700 hp air-cooled radial engine, that started life as an enlarged Gnome-Rhône 7K with two extra cylinders. Design and development The Gnome-Rhône 7K itself was a ...

Mistral. With the introduction of the K-series, Gnome-Rhône finally ended royalty payments to Bristol, the Gnome-Rhône 5K being built in much greater numbers than the original Bristol Titan. By 1930 they had delivered 6,000 Jupiters, Mistrals and Titans, making them the largest engine company in France.

Variants

;Titan I:(1928) - ;Titan IIF :Modified valve gear. ;Titan II (Special): ;Titan IV:(1928) - , 0.5:1 reduction gear from Bristol Jupiter. ;Gnome et Rhône 5B: ;Gnome et Rhône 5Ba: ;Gnome et Rhône 5Bc: ;Gnome et Rhône 5K Titan:licence-built Titan II, ;Gnome et Rhône 7K Titan Major:enlarged seven-cylinder Titan with many detail improvements, produced by Gnome-Rhône without licence.

Applications

Avro 504N 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 th ...

Bristol Primary Trainer The Bristol Taxiplane and Bristol Primary Trainer were British single-engine biplane light aircraft built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the early 1920s. A total of 28 were built, being mainly used as trainers. Design and development In 1 ...

Bristol Type 110A The Bristol Type 110A was a single-engine biplane for charter work, accommodating four passengers in comfort. Designed by Frank Barnwell and built at Filton Aerodrome by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. No orders were obtained and only one air ...

Specifications (Titan I)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. . {{Gnome-Rhône aeroengines Aircraft air-cooled radial piston engines Titan 1920s aircraft piston engines