The Renault 6Q, also called the Renault Bengali 6, is an air-cooled six-cylinder, inverted piston engine, producing about continuous power. It was designed and built in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and produced for more than ten years after its homologation in 1936, with large numbers built 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 ...

Design and development

The six-cylinder Renault 6Q and the four-cylinder

Renault 4P The Renault 4P, also called the Renault Bengali Junior, was a series of air-cooled 4-cylinder inverted inline aero engines designed and built in France from 1927, which produced from to . Design and development Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic Ocea ...

, both from the early 1930s, shared the same bore, stroke and pistons. The 6Q was built in both unsupercharged and supercharged forms. The

centrifugal Centrifugal (a key concept in rotating systems) may refer to: *Centrifugal casting (industrial), Centrifugal casting (silversmithing), and Spin casting (centrifugal rubber mold casting), forms of centrifigual casting *Centrifugal clutch *Centrifug ...

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 ...

was added at the back of the engine, driven off the

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 ...

via step-up gearing. It added to the weight and to the length but boosted the performance at altitude to a continuous power of at 2,500 rpm and . Two pre-war models were optimised to different altitudes, the 02/03 right- and left-handed pair to , with 7.61:1 gearing and the 04/05 pair to , with 12.274 gearing.

Operational history

The 6Q was homologated in 1936; 1700 were built before the war and 1660 during it. Post-war, production was resumed. The majority of pre-war 6Qs were used in

Caudron C.440 Goéland The Caudron C.440 ''Goéland'' ("seagull") was a six-seat twin-engine utility aircraft developed in France in the mid-1930s. Design and development It was a conventionally configured low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel Landing gear, und ...

s, during the war in Goélands and post-war in Nord's

Messerschmitt Bf 108 The Messerschmitt Bf 108 ''Taifun'' (English: "Typhoon") was a German single-engine sport and touring aircraft, developed by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in the 1930s. The Bf 108 was of all-metal construction. Design and development Originally desi ...

derived

Nord Pingouin The Nord Pingouin (, ''Auk'') was a French-built, re-engined Messerschmitt Bf 108 ''Taifun'' produced by SNCAN (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord). Development In 1942 the manufacture of the Messerschmitt Bf 108 was t ...

, in the Nord Noralpha and Ramier Bf 108 developments.

Variants

Even sub-type numbers rotate clockwise, odd numbers anti-clockwise as seen from engine. ;Renault 6Q-00/01: Unsupercharged LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-02/03: Supercharged to LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-04/05: Supercharged to LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-06/07: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-08/09: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-10/11: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-18/19: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-20/21: LH/RH rotation

Applications

* Caudron C.631-5 Simoun * Caudron C.640 Typhon *

Caudron C.690 __NOTOC__ The Caudron C.690 was a single-seat training aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety featur ...

Caudron C.860 The Caudron C.860 was a single engine, single seat monoplane ordered by the French government as a long distance communications aircraft. First flown in 1938, it was also expected to set speed and altitude records but the outbreak of World War I ...

Dewoitine HD.730 The Dewoitine HD.730 was a prototype French reconnaissance floatplane of the 1940s. It was a single-engined, low-wing monoplane that was designed as a catapult-launched reconnaissance aircraft to operate from warships of the French Navy. Two f ...

Farman F.430 The Farman F.430 was a 1930s French light transport designed and built by the Farman Aviation Works. Two variants with different engines were known as the F.431 and F.432. Design and development The F.430 was a low-wing cantilever monoplane wit ...

* Hanriot H.230 * Morane-Saulnier MS.350 * Morane-Saulnier MS.501 * Nord 1101/2 Noralpha/Ramier *

Potez 661 The Potez 661 was a four-engined metal low-wing monoplane airliner developed in France just before World War II. The single example flew with Air Afrique on French colonial routes. Design and development In 1936 the well-established Potez compa ...

* Rey R.1 *

SNCASE SE-700 The SNCASE SE-700 was a three-seat passenger autogyro designed during World War II. Two were completed but only the first flew and the programme was soon abandoned. Design and development Design of the SE-700 began in 1939 but World War II del ...

* SNCASE SE-1210

Engines on display

* Ailes Anciennes,

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

: Renault 6Q 10 in a Nord 1101 Ramier I.

Specifications (post-war unsupercharged)

References

{{Renault aeroengines Air-cooled aircraft piston engines Inverted aircraft piston engines 1930s aircraft piston engines 6 Straight-six engines