The Ranger V-770 was an American air-cooled inverted V-12 aircraft engine developed by the Ranger Aircraft Engine Division of the Fairchild Engine & Aircraft Corporation in the early 1930s.

Design and development

In 1931, the V-770 design was built, derived from the

Ranger 6-440 The Ranger L-440 (company designation 6-440C) are six-cylinder inline inverted air-cooled aero-engines produced by the Ranger/Fairchild Engines, Ranger Aircraft Engine Division of the Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation ...

series of inverted inline air-cooled engines, and test flown in the

Vought Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought Ai ...

XSO2U-1 Scout. In 1938 it was tested in the

Curtiss SO3C Seamew The Curtiss SO3C Seamew was developed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation as a replacement for the SOC Seagull as the United States Navy's standard floatplane scout. Curtiss named the SO3C the ''Seamew'' but in 1941 the US Navy began calling it by ...

but was found to be unreliable with a tendency to overheat in low-speed flight, but would still be the most produced aircraft to have the V-770, with 795 being built. By 1941 a more developed V-770 was installed in the Fairchild XAT-14 Gunner prototype gunnery school aircraft, which went into limited production as the

Fairchild AT-21 Gunner The Fairchild AT-21 was an American World War II specialized bomber crew trainer, intended to train crews in the use of power gun turrets or a gun on a flexible mount, as well as learn to function as a member of a crew. It had a brief career as ...

, of which 174 were built, not including one radial engine prototype. Produced from 1941 to 1945, the V-770 featured a two-piece aluminum alloy crankcase, steel cylinder barrels with integral

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

alloy fins and aluminum alloy heads. The V-770 was the only American inverted V-12 air-cooled engine to reach production. The engine was used in very few aircraft, among them the short lived Fairchild AT-21 twin-engine bomber trainer, and in the two

Bell XP-77 The Bell XP-77 development was initiated by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II to produce a simplified "lightweight" fighter aircraft using non-strategic materials. Despite being innovative, the diminutive prototype proved ...

light-weight fighter prototypes.

Variants

Ranger V-770 engine installation in Bell XP-77A

;V-770-4: Installed in the Vought XSO2U-1 scout aircraft ;V-770-6: Installed in the Fairchild XAT-14 Gunner prototype, intended for the Ryan SOR-1 Scout ;V-770-7: Installed in the

lightweight fighter prototype ;V-770-8: Installed in the

Scout. ;V-770-9: Installed in the

North American XAT-6E Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

prototype. ;V-770-11: Installed in the Fairchild AT-21 Gunner. ;V-770-15: Installed in the Fairchild AT-21 Gunner. ;V-770-17: Similar to V-770-8 but with raised hollow propeller shaft for mounting cannon or machine gun. ;GV-770: Geared un-supercharged variants. ;SV-770: Supercharged direct-drive variants. ;SGV-770: Supercharged and geared variants. ;SGV-770C-1: Tested in the Curtiss XF6C-7 Hawk fighter-bomber at . ;SGV-770C-1B: (V-770-11) ;SGV-770C-2A: (V-770-8) ;SGV-770C-B1: Installed in the

Ikarus 214 The Ikarus 214 was a military aircraft produced in Yugoslavia in the early 1950s. Originally intended as a light reconnaissance-bomber, it was produced as a trainer and transport aircraft when the testing of the prototype showed it had insufficien ...

prototype ;SGV-770D-4: (V-770-17) Similar to C-2A but with raised hollow propeller shaft for mounting cannon or machine gun. ;SGV-770D-5: Developed for post-war commercial use, at 3,600 RPM, weight , height , length , width

Applications

Edo OSE The Edo OSE was a 1940s American single-seat multi-role floatplane designed and manufactured by the Edo Aircraft Corporation. Design and development The Edo Aircraft Corporation was an established company that produced seaplane floats. In 1946, ...

Fairchild F-46 The Fairchild F-46, also known as the Duramold Aircraft Corporation F-46 A, is a light aircraft that was built using the Duramold process, later used on the Spruce Goose. Development The process was developed jointly by the Haskelite Manufacturi ...

Fairchild BQ-3 The Fairchild BQ-3, also known as the Model 79, was an early expendable unmanned aerial vehicle – referred to at the time as an " assault drone" – developed by Fairchild Aircraft from the company's AT-21 Gunner advanced trainer during the Sec ...

* Ikarus 213/Utva 213 Vihor *

(prototype) * Vought XSO2U *

North American XAT-6E The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

Engines on display

* One restored engine in storage at the

Carolinas Aviation Museum The Carolinas Aviation Museum is an aviation museum on the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is one of a few aviation museums located at an airport which serves as a major hub (Charlotte is the ...

* One survives at Cincinnati State Aviation school * One modified V-770 survives in an art car by Michael LeedsBlown Ranger
/ref> * The

Yankee Air Museum The Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located at Willow Run Airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors. History The Yankee Air Force Inc. w ...

has a V-770 on display. * One restored engine at the

Vintage Flying Museum The Vintage Flying Museum is a non-profit aviation museum located at Meacham International Airport, Fort Worth, Texas. The primary mission of the museum is to preserve America's flying heritage in word, deed and action. History In October 2010, t ...

in Fort Worth.

Specifications (SGV-770C-1)

References