Menasco Aircraft Engines and Their Air Racing Heritage, Part 2

Al Menasco’s air racing heritage, more than any other achievement, put his engines "on the map." From 1930 to 1937, Menasco engines won three times as many air races in US and foreign closed course competition as all other brands combined. They totally dominated their size classes (discouraging the entry of rivals) and even scored key victories against much larger engines in Thompson Trophy national air races. The Menasco racing engines were major technical achievements, and only certain engineering obstacles forestalled even better results.

The Quaint Valve Gear Mechanism of the British Sunbeam "Arab" Aero-Engine

The Sunbeam "Arab" V-8 engine of 1916-1918 will always be remembered primarily as an engineering disaster. It was designed, tested and put into production during a period of major military conflict and was thus subjected to all the usual stress and pressure that occurs at such times. Short cuts were taken, mistakes were made by both manufacturer and the War Department. Over 6,000 were ordered with more than 1,100 being constructed before it became apparent that the engine had insurmountable problems. Arabs were being built by the Austin Motor Car Co., Lanchester Motor Co., Napier & Son in Great Britain as well as by Sunbeam itself. As with the Hispano-Suiza V-8, American production was negotiated and some engines were built at the Willys-Overland Co. in Toledo, Ohio. Of all these (mostly unused) engines, sadly not one has survived. In fact, Sunbeam aero-engines today exist only in small numbers — about 15 worldwide including five in Australia.

Ram Air Induction

Ideal ram air induction systems employ the circular cross section conical diffusers of subsonic jets with all the niceties of textbook examples. One worries about where such bulky devices will fit into existing crowded WWII fighter airframes or even into similarly compact scratch built racers. Study of existing designs yields evidence that "best efforts" along these lines, though space limited and not as nearly optimum as required for incredibly air-hungry turbine performance, are working very well for unlimited class racers. An analytical/design/application approach evolved in the quest for better understanding of ram air induction as it applies to recip powered unlimited class (and other) racers.