The Gnome 7 Omega (commonly called the Gnome 50 hp) is a French seven-cylinder,

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. Air-cooled designs are far simpler than their liquid-cooled ...

aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbin ...

produced by

Gnome et Rhône Gnome et Rhône was a major French aircraft engine manufacturer. Between 1914 and 1918 they produced 25,000 of their 9-cylinder Delta and Le Rhône 110 hp (81 kW) rotary designs, while another 75,000 were produced by various licensee ...

. It was shown at the Paris Aero Salon held in December 1908 and was first flown in 1909. It was the world's first aviation

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...

produced in quantity. Its introduction revolutionized the aviation industry and it was used by many early aircraft. It produced from its engine

capacity Capacity or capacities may refer to: Mathematics, science, and engineering * Capacity of a container, closely related to the volume of the container * Capacity of a set, in Euclidean space, the total charge a set can hold while maintaining a giv ...

. A Gnome Omega engine powers the 1912 Blackburn Monoplane, owned and operated by the

Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aviation, automotive and agricultural collection located at Old Warden Aerodrome in Bedfordshire, England. History The collection was founded in 1928 by aviator Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth. While ...

, the oldest known airworthy British-designed aeroplane worldwide. A two-row version of the same engine was also produced, known as the Gnome 14 Omega-Omega or Gnome 100 hp. The prototype Omega engine still exists, and is on display at the United States'

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

. Like all early Gnome et Rhône engines the Omega features a single pushrod driven exhaust valve on the cylinder head; the intake valve is located in the piston crown, opening by inertia on the downstroke and feeding the intake charge from the crankcase into the upper part of the cylinder. No throttle is provided, the pilot controls the aircraft's speed by switching off the ignition when necessary. Gnome-GA section

Variants

;Gnome 7 Omega:Single-row 7-cyl. original version; . ;Gnome 14 Omega-Omega :Two-row, 14-cylinder version using Omega

cylinders A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

; .

Applications

Gnome 7 Omega

Gnome Omega-Omega - Moteurs Gnome October 1913

Gnome 14 Omega-Omega

* Avro 501 * Blériot XIII * Bleriot XXIII *

Bristol-Gordon England G.E.2 The Bristol Gordon England biplanes were a series of early British military biplane aircraft designed by Eric Gordon England for the Bristol Aeroplane Company that first flew in 1912. Designed for easy ground transport, the aircraft could be q ...

* Coventry Ordnance Works Biplane 10 *

Deperdussin 1912 Racing Monoplane The Deperdussin 1912 Racing Monoplane was a French aircraft built by Société de Production des Aéroplanes Deperdussin especially for racing. It is notable for being the first aircraft to exceed in level flight. Design and development The De ...

* Nieuport IV.H floatplane *

Short S.41 Tractor Biplane The Short S.41 was a British single-engined biplane built for the Royal Navy in 1912. Capable of being operated either on wheels or floats, it was successful enough for a further two similar aircraft to be built, with the type remaining in use ...

* Short S.57 Seaplane * Short S.64 Folder Seaplane * Short Admiralty Type 74

Engines on display

*The very first Gnome rotary engine ever built, Gnôme Omega No. 1, is on display at the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

*A preserved production Gnome 7 Omega engine is on public display at the

Royal Air Force Museum London The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome, in North London's Borough of Barnet. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air ...

. *A restored Omega is on display at the

New England Air Museum The New England Air Museum (NEAM) is an American aerospace museum located adjacent to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The museum consists of three display hangars with additional storage and restoration hangars. Its ...

, Windsor Locks, CT.

Specifications (7 Omega)

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * *

External links

NASM's page on Gnome Omega No.1

Video of April 2009 ground runup of a restored Gnome Omega in the USA
{{Gnome-Rhône aeroengines

Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

Air-cooled aircraft piston engines 1900s aircraft piston engines Rotary aircraft piston engines