The Klimov VK-107 was a V-12 liquid-cooled piston aircraft engine used by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

aircraft 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 ...

Development

The VK-107 was developed from the M-105 and VK-106. To achieve a greater power output, each cylinder now had four valves (two intake and two exhaust),

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

and

camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams, in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition systems ...

s were completely revised, and a new

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

design was implemented. Although the engine could have been ready for production as early as 1942, the

s' factories lacked the capacity to produce a brand new design. Thus, the less powerful Klimov VK-105PF and VK-105PF2 V12 engines were built instead. However, the appearance of

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Messerschmitt Bf 109G Due to the Messerschmitt Bf 109's versatility and time in service with the German and foreign air forces, numerous variants were produced in Germany to serve for over eight years with the Luftwaffe. Additional variants were produced abroad tot ...

with

Daimler-Benz DB 605 The Daimler-Benz DB 605 is a German aircraft engine built during World War II. Developed from the DB 601, the DB 605 was used from 1942 to 1945 in the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, and the Bf 110 and Me 210C heavy fighters. The DB 610, a p ...

engine in 1943 created an urgent demand for a more powerful engine. VK-107A was put into production in 1944 and was used on Yak-9U fighters. The engine was not well liked by either pilots or mechanics – it had a life expectancy of only 25 hours and

war emergency power War emergency power (WEP) is a throttle setting that was present on some American World War II military aircraft engines. For use in emergency situations, it produced more than 100% of the engine's normal rated power for a limited amount of time, ...

was almost never used for fear of decreasing this even more. The engine was also difficult to service, in part because its exhaust headers were on the inside of the cylinder banks, the reverse placement of most V-type liquid-cooled engine designs.Kotelnikov 2005, p. 143.

Variants

''Data from'' Aircraft engines of the World 1953 and Russian piston aero engines ;M-107: (M-107P) Initial designation, produced 1941-1942; 686 built. ;VK-107:Prototypes with take-off rating of ;VK-107A: 1942 production version without water-injection with military (high) rating of at 2800 rpm and , remained in production until 1948 ;VK-107B:with water injection ;VK-107R: version for hybrid piston-

motorjet A motorjet is a rudimentary type of jet engine which is sometimes referred to as ''thermojet'', a term now commonly used to describe a particular and completely unrelated pulsejet design. Design At the heart the motorjet is an ordinary pist ...

powered

Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 (N) The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 (''Samolet N''), aka MiG-13, was a Soviet fighter aircraft developed as part of a crash program in 1944 to develop a high-performance fighter to counter German turbojet-powered aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Me 262 ...

and

Sukhoi Su-5 The Sukhoi Su-5 or I-107 was a Soviet mixed-power (propeller and motorjet) prototype fighter aircraft built toward the end of World War II. Development The appearance of the German turbojet-powered Messerschmitt Me 262 near the end of World War ...

fighters ;VK-107 coupled:A projected coupled powerplant driving contra-rotating propellers ;VK-108:attempt to further develop VK-107 with a rating of for takeoff, used on several

Yakovlev Yak-3 The Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russian: Яковлев Як-3) was a single-engine, single-seat World War II Soviet fighter. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by both pilots and ground crew.Glancey 2006, p. 180. One of the smallest and lighte ...

and

Myasishchev DB-108 The Myasishchev DB-108 was a 1940s Soviet experimental development of the Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber aircraft. Only three prototypes were built and only two of them flew. Design and development After Vladimir Petlyakov's death in January 1942 Vladi ...

prototypes but did not enter production. ;VK-108F:Boosted VK-108 ;VK-109: 1945-6 development of the VK-108, planned for use on the

Myasishchev VB-109 The Myasishchev DB-108 was a 1940s Soviet experimental development of the Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber aircraft. Only three prototypes were built and only two of them flew. Design and development After Vladimir Petlyakov's death in January 1942 Vladi ...

bomber.

Applications

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-7 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-3) was a Soviet fighter-interceptor used during World War II. It was a development of the MiG-1 by the OKO (opytno-konstruktorskij otdel — Experimental Design Departme ...

Petlyakov Pe-2 The Petlyakov Pe-2 (russian: Петляков Пе-2) was a Soviet twin-engine dive bomber used during World War II. One of the outstanding tactical attack aircraft of the war,Ethell 1996, p. 152. it also proved successful as a heavy fighter, as ...

Yakovlev Yak-9 The Yakovlev Yak-9 (russian: Яковлев Як-9) is a single-engine, single-seat multipurpose fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Union and its allies during World War II and the early Cold War. It was a development of the robust and successf ...

Specifications (VK-107B)

References

Bibliography