The Gnome-Rhône 14K ''Mistral Major'' was a 14-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled
radial engine. It was
Gnome-Rhône's major
aircraft 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 ...
prior to
World War II, and matured into a highly sought-after design that would see licensed production throughout
Europe and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Thousands of Mistral Major engines were produced, used on a wide variety of aircraft.
Design and development
In 1921 Gnome-Rhône purchased a license for the highly successful
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 ...
engine and produced it until about 1930, alongside the smaller
Bristol Titan. Starting in 1926, however, they used the basic design of the Titan to produce a family of new engines, the so-called "K series". These started with the 5K ''Titan'', followed by the 7K ''Titan Major'' and 9K ''Mistral''. By 1930, 6,000 of these engines had been delivered.
However, the aircraft industry at that time was rapidly evolving and producing much larger aircraft that demanded larger engines to power them. Gnome-Rhône responded by developing the 7K into a two-row version that became the 14K ''Mistral Major''. The first test examples were running in 1929.
As the Jupiter had set the pattern for one-row radials in the 1920s, the Mistral Major became a canonical design for twin-row radials of the 1930s. It was widely licensed and formed the basis for many successful designs. Among the licensees were
Industria Aeronautică Română in Romania,
Manfred Weiss in Hungary,
Alvis
Alvis may refer to:
*Alvis Car and Engineering Company, British luxury car and military vehicle manufacturer which later became Alvis plc
* Alvis plc (formerly United Scientific Holdings plc), a defence contractor which acquired Alvis Cars and bec ...
of the UK,
Tumansky in the USSR,
Walter of Czechoslovakia, and
Isotta Fraschini and
Piaggio in Italy.
Nakajima in Japan also licensed it, but did not put it into production, developing their own designs based on features taken from the Mistral and other designs.
Variants
;14Kbr: Reduction gearing
;14Kbrs: Supercharged with reduction gearing
;14Kdr: Reduction gearing
;14Kds: Supercharger
;14Kdrs: Supercharged with reduction gearing
;14Kes: Supercharged (LH rotation)
;14Kfs: Supercharged (RH rotation Kers)
;14Kirs: Supercharged with reduction gearing (LH rotation)
;14Kjrs: Supercharged with reduction gearing (RH rotation Kirs)
;14Knrs: Supercharged with reduction gearing (LH rotation)
;14Kors: Supercharged with reduction gearing (RH rotation Knrs)
;
Alvis Pelides
The Alvis Pelides was an unflown British air-cooled radial aero engine first developed in 1936. The Pelides Major was a projected but unbuilt development as were the Alcides, Alcides Major and the Maeonides Major, the Alvis aircraft engine ran ...
:Development of engine with British fasteners. 15 built before project abandoned with start of Second World War as no suitable use in Air Ministry plans.
;Isotta Fraschini K.14: license-built in Italy by
Isotta Fraschini
;
IAM K14
IAM may refer to:
Concepts
* Identity and access management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies
*Indo-Aryan migration, the theory that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages migrated into the Indian subcontinent duri ...
: licensed derivative produced in Yugoslavia
;
IAR K14: licensed derivative produced in Romania
;
Manfréd Weiss WM K-14:licensed derivative produced in Hungary
;
Piaggio P.XI: licensed derivative produced in Italy
;
Piaggio P.XIX
The Piaggio P.XIX was an Italian aircraft engine produced by Rinaldo Piaggio S.p.A. during World War II and used to power aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica.
Development
The engine was part of a line of 14-cylinder radial engines developed from Pi ...
: higher compression development of
Piaggio P.XI
;Tumansky M-85: license-built in USSR by
Tumansky
;Tumansky M-86: 960 hp (715 kW) development of M-85 through increased supercharging and a higher compression ratio.
;
Tumansky M-87:
;
Tumansky M-88:
;Walter Mistral Major:
;ИАМ K.14:
Applications
Aircraft powered by G-R 14K derivatives
Specifications (Gnome-Rhône 14Kd)
Gallery
File:Piaggio-P.XI.jpg, A Piaggio P.XI engine at the Malmohus Technical Museum, Malmo, Sweden.
File:Tumanski M-85 Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseo.JPG, A Tumansky M-85 at the Aviation Museum of Central Finland.
File:Walter Mistral K 14-I (1934-37).jpg, Walter Mistral Major.
File:Walter Mistral K-14 MLP 01.jpg, A Walter Mistral Major at the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow.
See also
References
* Danel, Raymond and Cuny, Jean. ''L'aviation française de bombardement et de renseignement 1918-1940'' Docavia n°12, Editions Larivière
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gnome-Rhone Mistral Major
1920s aircraft piston engines
Aircraft air-cooled radial piston engines
Mistral Major
K.14
M-85