The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8

SOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

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 ...

introduced by

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza 8A was rated at and the later, larger displacement Hispano-Suiza 8F reached . Hispano-Suiza 8 engines and variants produced by Hispano-Suiza and other companies under licence were built in twenty-one factories in Spain, France, Britain, Italy, and the U.S. Derivatives of the engine were also used abroad to power numerous aircraft types and the engine can be considered as the ancestor of another successful engine by the same designer, the Hispano-Suiza 12Y (and Soviet Klimov V12 derivative aero-engines) which was in service during the Second World War.

Design and development

Origins

At the beginning of World War I, the production lines of the Barcelona based

automobile and engine company were switched to the production of war materiel. Chief engineer

Marc Birkigt Marc Birkigt (8 March 1878, Geneva – 15 March 1953, Versoix) was a Swiss engineer, automotive and aviation pioneer, and co-founder of Hispano-Suiza in 1904. He lived in Barcelona, Spain when he was hired by Emilio de la Cuadra in 1898 to wor ...

led work on an aircraft engine based on his successful V8 automobile engine. The resulting engine, called the Hispano-Suiza 8A (HS-31), made its first appearance in February 1915. The first 8A kept the standard configuration of Birkigt's existing design: eight cylinders in 90° Vee configuration, a displacement of 11.76 litres (717.8 cu in) and a power output of 140 hp at 1,900 rpm. In spite of the similarities with the original design, the engine had been substantially refined. The crankshaft was machined from a solid piece of steel. The cylinder blocks were cast aluminium and of monobloc type that is, in one piece with the

cylinder heads. The inlet and exhaust ports were cast into the blocks, the valve seats were in the top face of the steel cylinder liners, which were screwed into the blocks. Using a rotating bevel gear-driven tower shaft coming up from the crankcase along the rear end of each cylinder bank, with the final drive for each cylinder bank's camshaft accommodated within a semicircular bulge at the rear end of each valve cover. Aluminium parts were coated in vitreous enamel to reduce leakage. All parts subject to wear, and those critical for engine ignition were duplicated:

spark plug A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/air ...

s for dual ignition reliability, valve springs, magnetos, etc. Engine reliability and power to weight ratios were major problems in early aviation. The engine and its accessories weighed , making it 40% lighter than a rotary engine of equivalent power. This empty weight does not include the radiator and coolant fluid. Generally, air-cooled engines are lighter than their equivalent horsepower water-cooled counterparts. For example, the

Bentley BR.2 The Bentley B.R.2 was a nine-cylinder British rotary aircraft engine developed during the First World War by the motor car engine designer W. O. Bentley from his earlier Bentley BR.1. Coming as it did near the end of the war, the BR.2 was buil ...

rotary put out and weighed ,

Clerget 9B The Clerget 9B was a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine of the World War I era designed by Pierre Clerget. Manufactured in both France and Great Britain (Gwynnes Limited), it was used on such aircraft as the Sopwith Camel. The Clerget 9Bf was ...

rotary , . The new engine was presented to the French Ministry of War in February 1915, and tested for 15 hours at full power. This was standard procedure for a new engine design to be admitted into military service. However, because of lobbying by French engine manufacturers, the Spanish-made engine was ordered to undergo a bench test that no French-made engine had yet passed: a 50-hour run at full speed. The HS-31 was therefore sent back to

Chalais-Meudon Chalais-Meudon is an aeronautical research and development centre in Meudon, to the south-west of Paris. It was originally founded in 1793 in the nearby Château de Meudon and has played an important role in the development of French aviation. B ...

on July 21, 1915, and tested for 50 hours, succeeding against all expectations. The design also promised far more development-potential than rotary engines. This was despite being the most common type, then in use, for most aircraft. Also, rotary engines were getting close to the limits of their development at this time. Rotary engines of increased power generally had increased weight, which in turn increased the already serious gyroscopic torque generated by the engine's rotation. A further increase in torque was considered unacceptable, and the power to weight ratio of the new rotary engines under development did not appeal to aircraft designers. French officials ordered production of the 8A to be started as soon as possible and issued a requirement for a new single-seat high-performance fighter aircraft using the new engine. The

Louis Béchereau Louis Béchereau (July 25, 1880 in Plou, Cher – March 18, 1970 in Paris) was a French aeronautical engineer and pioneer of French aviation. Biography After having attended the École nationale professionnelle in Vierzon, Béchereau went to ...

-designed

SPAD VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and r ...

was the result of this requirement and allowed the Allies to regain

air superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...

over the Germans.

Variants

''Some data from:'' British Piston Engines and their Aircraft ''Note:'' Hispano-Suiza company type numbers were prefixed by ''HS-'' or written in full as Hispano-Suiza Type 31, but military designations used the conventional system of Hispano-Suiza(engine manufacturer) 8(no of cylinders) A(engine series) b(variant) r(attribute), thus Hispano-Suiza 8Abr. ;8 (HS-31): , initial production and test engines, with few applications, including early

Nieuport 14 The Nieuport 14 (or Nieuport XIV A.2 in contemporary sources) was a military reconnaissance sesquiplane produced in France during the First World War. The French Army deployed it in 1916 but the type was quickly withdrawn from front-line service ...

s. ;8Aa (HS-31) : at 2000 rpm, entered production in July 1915. Early HS-8A engines were plagued with various problems which required further work and was the standard powerplant for early-production SPAD VIIs and the Curtiss "Jenny" JN-4H variants. The demand for the Hispano-Suiza engine was such that other manufacturers began producing it under licence, in France, Great Britain ( Wolseley Adder), Italy (Nagliati in Florence and Itala/ SCAT (automobile) in Turin) and Russia. Total production of the HS-8Aa amounted to some 6,000 engines. ;8Ab (HS-34) : at 2,100 rpm, increasing 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 ...

from 4.7 to 5.3, Birkigt was able to increase the power output . The 8Ab began replacing the 8Aa on SPAD VIIs in early 1917. ;8Ac : ;8Ad :(1929) bore x stroke, for take-off. Hispano-Suiza 8BE

;8B (HS-35) : , compression ratio 5.3:1, geared at 0.75:1. The HS-36 was the 8B with a Lewis gun firing through the propeller boss. ;8B twin (HS-39):Coupled 8B engines ;8Ba : at 2,300 rpm, low compression ratio of 4.7:1, spur geared at 0.585:1. ;8Bb : , compression ratio of 4.8:1, reduction gear 0.75:1. However the reduction gear system was fragile, and often broke down, sometimes with spectacular results ending up with the entire propeller, driveshaft and driven gear parting company from the airframe. Progressive refinement of the engine brought the available power to by the end of 1917. The 8B, 8Ba and 8Bb were used (a) to power the earliest versions of the

S.E.5a The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the fast ...

, (b) along with the 8Bd, the SPAD S.XIII, (c) front-line active versions of the Sopwith Dolphin, and (d) several other Allied aircraft types, with its gear reduction easily identifiable in vintage World War I photos, from its use of a clockwise (viewed from in front, otherwise known as a left hand tractor) rotation propeller. ;8Bc: , compression ratio of 5.3:1, reduction gear 0.75:1. ;8Bd: , compression ratio of 5.3:1, reduction gear 0.75:1. ::8Bda ;8Be: , compression ratio of 5.3:1, reduction gear 0.75:1. ;8BeC (HS-38): The 8Be fitted with the

SAMC Model 37 cannon SAMC (South American Music Conference) is an electronic dance music festival held annually in Buenos Aires since 2004 in music, 2004, carried out in the estate of Costa Salguero Center. It is one of the most important music festivals of South Ame ...

, or a similar weapon, firing through the propeller boss. A reduction gear equipped power-plant with a resultant clockwise rotation propeller like the 8B, produced at 2,100 rpm. Two known weapons fitted were the SAMC with a rifled barrel and a smooth-bore cannon firing canister ammunition. The moteur-canon could fire a single shot at a time through the hollow drive shaft without propeller interference. This cannon mount required an "elevated" intake manifold design, bringing the intake "runners" straight off the inner surfaces of the cylinder banks to the updraft carburetor's plenum chamber. The engine was used on the

SPAD S.XII The SPAD S.XII or SPAD 12 was a French single-seat biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War developed from the successful SPAD VII by Louis Béchereau, chief designer of the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD). Development ...

. ;8Ca/220: Cannon-equipped at 2,100 rpm with 5.3:1 compression. Given the company designation HS Type 38 ;8Cb/180: Cannon-equipped at 2,000 rpm with 4.7:1 compression. Given the company designation HS Type 44 ;8Cc/220: Cannon-equipped at 2,100 rpm with 5.3:1 compression. Given the company designation HS Type 44 Hispano Suiza 8Ca

;Hispano-Suiza Type 40: (8E ?) ;Hispano-Suiza Type 41: (8A ?) ;8F (HS-42) : at 2,100 rpm (eq. 750 lb·ft torque). The direct drive 8F was basically a bored out version of the 8B, intended for use in bombers, with a displacement of . Despite the increased weight of , the 8F was also installed in fighters such as the Nieuport-Delage NiD 29 and

Martinsyde Buzzard The Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard was developed as a powerful and fast biplane fighter for the Royal Air Force (RAF), but the end of the First World War led to the abandonment of large-scale production. Fewer than 400 were eventually produced, with man ...

, and would have powered the never-produced Mk.II version of the Sopwith Dolphin. Engine speed being lower than that of the HS-8B, the reduction gear was deleted, thereby increasing engine reliability. ;8Fa :generally similar to the 8F. ;8Fb : , aka HS Type 42, compression ratio of 5.3:1, direct drive. ;8Fd Special :For the CAMS 38 Schneider Trophy racer developing ;8Fe (HS-42VS) :(1926) bore x stroke, for take-off. ;

Wolseley W.4A Python I The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the S.E.5a, SPAD VII and other Brit ...

: , compression ratio of 4.7:1. License production of the 8Aa at

Wolseley Motors Ltd. Wolseley may refer to: People *Sir Charles Wolseley, 2nd Baronet (c. 1630–1714), English politician *Sir Charles Wolseley, 7th Baronet (1769–1846), English landowner and political agitator *Frances Garnet Wolseley, 2nd Viscountess Wolseley (1 ...

;

Wolseley W.4A Python II The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the S.E.5a, SPAD VII and other Brit ...

:, compression ratio of 5.3 :1. ; Wolseley W.4A Viper :, compression ratio of 5.3 :1. Wolseley's engineers removed problems with the crankshaft and increased the compression ratio to give more power, with some early engines having a compression ratio of 5.6:1. ;

Wolseley W.4A Viper II The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the S.E.5a, SPAD VII and other Brit ...

: at 2,000 rpm. ;

Wolseley W.4B Adder I The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the S.E.5a, SPAD VII and other Bri ...

:, compression ratio of 4.7 :1, reduction spur gear to 0.593:1. ;

Wolseley W.4B Adder II The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano-Suiza 8, Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V8 engine, V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the Royal ...

:, compression ratio of 4.7 :1, reduction spur gear to 0.593:1. With stronger crankshaft webs. ;

Wolseley W.4B Adder III The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the S.E.5a, SPAD VII and other Brit ...

:, compression ratio of 4.7 :1, reduction spur gear to 0.593:1. With balanced crankshafts. ;Wright-Hisso A:Wright-Martin built Type 34/HS8Aa at 1,400 rpm and 4.72:1 compression. ;Wright-Hisso B: 4-cyl in-line water-cooled ;Wright-Hisso C: geared A ;Wright-Hisso D: geared A with cannon ;Wright-Hisso E: at 1,700 rpm and 5.33:1 compression(HC 'I') ;Wright-Hisso E-2: (HC 'E') ;Wright-Hisso F: ('D' without cannon) ;Wright-Hisso H: , based on the Type 42/HS8F ;Wright-Hisso H-2: improved 'H' ;Wright-Hisso I: ;Wright-Hisso K: H with 37mm Baldwin cannon ;Wright-Hisso K-2: ;Wright-Hisso M: experimental 300 hp ;Wright-Hisso T: ;Wright-Hisso 180 hp V-8: direct drive ;Wright-Hisso 220 hp V-8: geared drive ;Wright-Hisso 300 hp V-8: geared drive ;M-6: A Soviet Union produced copy of the 8Fb ;Wright-Hisso V-720

Applications

* Austin-Ball A.F.B.1 (single prototype) * Avia BH-21 (from 1925) *

Avia BH-22 __NOTOC__ The Avia BH-22 was a trainer aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in 1925, based on the Avia BH-21, BH-21 Fighter aircraft, fighter. A smaller engine was used and armament removed. The lighter engine required the wing stagger to be decreased ...

* Bartel BM-5 * Bernard SIMB AB 10 *

Blanchard Brd.1 __NOTOC__ The Blanchard Brd.1 was a French reconnaissance flying boat, to the 1923 STAé HB.3 specification, used by the French navy in the 1920s. It was a large biplane with two engines mounted in the gap between the wings, each engine driving ...

Caudron R.11 The Caudron R.11 (or R.XI in contemporary usage), was a French three-seat twin-engine long range escort fighter biplane developed and produced by Caudron during the First World War. Development The R.XI was intended to fulfill a French Corps d' ...

(8Bba) *

Caudron C.59 The Caudron C.59 was a French, two-seat biplane with a single engine and a canvas-covered fuselage, produced between 1922 and 1924. Suitable for a variety of roles, more than 1,800 Caudron C.59s were manufactured. Operational history The Caudron ...

Caudron C.61 The Caudron C.61 was a French three-engined civil transport biplane aircraft built by the French aeroplane manufacturer Caudron. It was constructed of wood and covered in fabric. Development The prototype C.61 (F-ESAE) had a freight hold and c ...

(8Ac) * Curtiss JN-4H ''Jenny'' (rare subvariant) * De Bruyère C 1 * Descamps 27 (8Fb) *

Dewoitine D.1 The Dewoitine D.1 was a French single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1920s, built by the French industrial company Dewoitine. Development The D.1 was the first airplane designed by Emile Dewoitine after he established his own company. The D.1 was ...

(8Fb) *

Farman F.121 Jabiru The Farman F.120 and its derivatives were a family of multi-engine airliners and bombers of the 1920s built by the Farman Aviation Works in France. Design and development The Jabiru, which was named after a Latin American stork, was a fixed- ...

(8Ac) * FBA Type H (8Aa) * Felixstowe F.1 *

Fokker D.IX The Fokker D.IX was a Dutch single seat, single engine fighter aircraft, the final, more powerful evolution of the Fokker D.VII World War I success, flown in 1921. The sole example was purchased by the US Army Air Service but not developed furthe ...

Fokker D.X Fokker D.X (or D.10) was a Dutch fighter aircraft designed after World War I. The chief designer at Fokker, Reinhold Platz, designed the Fokker D.VIII fighter in 1918. It was a parasol monoplane with cantilever wings, which was an uncommon featu ...

(8Fb) *

Fokker D.XII The Fokker D.XII was a Dutch single seat, single engine fighter aircraft designed to an United States, American specification which called for the use of a Curtiss D-12 engine, designated PW-7. Despite considerable efforts to improve the airframe ...

(8F) initial design only *

Fokker S.III The Fokker S.III was a biplane trainer aircraft of the 1920s. It was of conventional configuration, seating the pilot and instructor in tandem, open cockpits. The single-baywings were staggered and of unequal span. In 1927, Fokker's US subsid ...

Gourdou-Leseurre GL.21 The Gourdou-Leseurre GL.2 (originally, the Gourdou-Leseurre Type B) was a French fighter aircraft which made its maiden flight in 1918. Design and development The GL.2 was a development of the Gourdou-Leseurre Type A which had shown pleasing per ...

* Hanriot HD.5 *

Hanriot HD.15 The Hanriot HD.15 was a French two-seat fighter aircraft fitted with a supercharger for good high altitude performance, built in the 1920s. Three were ordered by Japan but lost at sea during delivery. Design and development The Hanriot HD.15 wa ...

Hanriot HD.20 The Hanriot HD.20 was a French single seat shipboard fighter aircraft prototype completed in 1923. Only one was built. Design and development The Hanriot HD.20 was an all-metal two bay biplane, though the inner bay was relatively narrow. Outwa ...

Itoh Emi 29 The Itoh Emi 29 ''Taihoku-go'' was a 1920s Japanese civil transport with its two passengers in a enclosed cabin. It was the first of this "limousine" type to be built in Japan; the only example flew the Osaka-Tokyo route for a while. Design a ...

* Letord Let.1 (8A) *

Letord Let.2 The Letord Let.5 was probably the most numerous of a family of 3-seat reconnaissance bombers, designed and built in France from 1916, originally to an A3 (reconnaissance aircraft 3-seat) specification from the STAé (''Service Technique d'Aé ...

& Let.3 (8Ba) * Letov Š-7 (8Fb) *

Letov Š-13 The Letov Š-13 was a single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed and built in Czechoslovakia in the early 1920s. A biplane, it had aerodynamically thick wings which were originally cantilever structures, though interplane struts were la ...

(8Fb) * Letov Š-14 (8Fb) *

Levasseur PL.1 Pierre Levasseur's first aircraft, the Levasseur PL.1, was a three seat tourer (French category T.O.3) with a novel, simplified structure. One of only two Levasseur powered civil designs, the sole example was completed in 1922. Design and devel ...

(8Ab) *

Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard The Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard was developed as a powerful and fast biplane fighter for the Royal Air Force (RAF), but the end of the First World War led to the abandonment of large-scale production. Fewer than 400 were eventually produced, with man ...

(8Fb) *

(8A) * Nieuport-Delage NiD 29 (8Fb) * Nieuport-Delage NiD 38 (8Ab) * Nieuport-Delage Sesquiplan (8Fb) *

Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the fast ...

(8Aa) and

(8B, 8Ba or 8Bb on earliest versions and the Wolseley Viper derivative on later models) * Sopwith Dolphin (8B) *

Sopwith B.1 The Sopwith B.1 was an experimental British bomber aircraft of the First World War. A single-seat, single-engined biplane, the B.1 was built by the Sopwith Aviation Company for the Royal Navy. Although only two were built, one was used for bom ...

prototypes (8Ba) * SPAD S.VII (8A) * SPAD S.XI (8Be) *

(8Cb) * SPAD S.XIII (8Be) * Standard J-1 (post-war modification) *

Waco DSO The Waco 10/GXE/Waco O series was a range of three-seat open-cockpit biplanes built by the Advance Aircraft Company, later the Waco Aircraft Company. Design and development The Waco 10 was a larger span development of the Waco 9, both single-engi ...

(8a) *

Wibault 1 The Wibault Wib 1, Wib C1 or, later, Wib 1 C1 was a French World War I single seat, single engine fighter aircraft prototype. Flown near the end of the war, it was not selected for production. Design and development The Wib 1 was an aerodynami ...

(single prototype)

Wright-Hispano E

* Boeing NB-2 * AT-3 * Consolidated PT-1 * Cox-Klemin TW-2 * Curtiss AT-4 *

Dayton-Wright TW-3 The Consolidated PT-1 Trusty (company designation Model 1) was a biplane primary trainer used by the United States Army Air Service (USAAS). Design and development In 1921, Colonel Virginius Clark, chief designer of the Dayton-Wright Compan ...

* Huff-Daland TW-5 *

Loening M-8 The Loening M-8 was a 1910s American fighter monoplane designed by Grover Loening and built by his Loening Aeronautical Engineering Company. An order of 5000 for the United States Army Air Corps was canceled when the First World War ended. Deve ...

* Naval Aircraft Factory TS-3 * Travel Air 3000 * Vought VE-7 *

Mitsubishi "Hi"shiki

;200 HP (8B) * Yokosuka Ro-go Ko-gata *

Hanza-shiki suijō teisatsuki The Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 was a German two-seat fighter floatplane which served in the closing months of World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in ...

(ハンザ式水上偵察機, Type Hansa Surveillance Floatplane) ;300 HP (8F) * Mitsubishi 1MF * Mitsubishi 2MR

Comparative table

Engines on display

* A Hispano-Suiza 8Aa Type 34, made in 1916, is on public display at Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica at Madrid, Spain. * A Wright-Hisso 8A is on public display at the Aerospace Museum of California. * A Wright-Hisso 8A is on public display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

Specifications (Hispano-Suiza 8a)

References

* Janes Fighting Aircraft of World War I by Michael John Haddrick Taylor (Random House Group Ltd. 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA, 2001, ), page 289 *

Bibliography

* "Los motores V8 de aviación de La Hispano Suiza (1914-1918)" by Jacinto García Barbero (Edited by Asociación de Amigos del Museo Del Aire, Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica, CECAF. Depósito legal: M-41737-2005) 219 pages.

External links

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's Hispano-Suiza V8 powered Curtiss JN-4H Jenny

*Hispano-Suiza 8Aa at Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutic

{{Hispano-Suiza aeroengines 1910s aircraft piston engines Hispano-Suiza aircraft engines

Design and development

Origins

Variants

Applications

Wright-Hispano E

Mitsubishi "Hi"shiki

Comparative table

Engines on display

Specifications (Hispano-Suiza 8a)

See also

References

Bibliography

External links