The Sunbeam Pathan, also known as the Sunbeam P.1, was a 1920s British diesel

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 ...

Design and development

Louis Coatalen, Sunbeam engine designer, started work on a diesel powered aero-engine, that would be suitable for use in airships, in 1928. Using his experience with both aero-engines and auto-mobile diesel engines, the result, given the company designation P.1, was based on the Dyak. Given the name Pathan, a prototype engine was displayed at the 1929 Olympia Aero Show, but attracted no orders. Using the same bore and stroke of the Dyak (120mm x 130mm - 4.72in x 5.12in ), the Pathan was a water-cooled six-cylinder in-line diesel engine with a cubic capacity of 8.8l (537cu in). Rated to give 100 hp (74.6 kW) @ 1,500rpm the engine was fitted with a new type of fuel injection system allowing cold starts without other assistance. The engine did not enter production as the British Airship Programme was cancelled, and with no need for the engine only prototypes were built. Coatalen continued the development of Diesel engines after he left Sunbeam and returned to

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 ...

, developing the

Coatalen V-12 Diesel Louis Hervé Coatalen (11 September 1879 – 23 May 1962) was an automobile engineer and racing driver born in Brittany who spent much of his adult life in Britain and took British nationality. He was a pioneer of the design and development of inte ...

engine with limited success, due to the German invasion of 1940 halting further work.

Specifications

References

{{Sunbeam aeroengines Pathan 1920s aircraft piston engines

Design and development

Specifications

See also

References