Bristol Phoenix
The Bristol Phoenix was an air-cooled nine-cylinder radial engine made by the British manufacturer Bristol Airplane Company . It was built for test purposes in order to investigate the usability of the diesel process for aircraft engines.
history
The Bristol Pegasus served as the initial model, the structure and dimensions of which were retained. The tests with the first version of the Phoenix (Mk. I) could already be started in 1928. The fuel was supplied by two in-line injection pumps, which injected directly into the combustion chambers of four or five cylinders. A loader was attached to improve the altitude performance .
In 1932 an improved version (Mk. IIM) with a more powerful supercharger was built and tested in a Westland Wapiti in 1933 . The aircraft with the RAF serial J9102 reached an altitude of 8367 m with this engine on May 11, 1934. This meant a world record for aircraft with diesel engines that lasted until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
When comparing the flight performance with a normal Bristol Jupiter VIIIF , the Phoenix achieved a 4% higher cruising speed while at the same time reducing fuel consumption by 35%.
Since the Bristol Pegasus, which was already in series production, had since been significantly improved in terms of both performance and consumption, further tests were discontinued.
Technical data (Mk. IIM)
- Bore: 146 mm
- Stroke: 190.5 mm
- Displacement: 28.7 l
- Compression: 14: 1
- Propeller reduction: 0.5: 1
- Diameter: 1381 mm
- Length: 1111 mm
- Continuous power: 470 hp
swell
- "British Piston Aero Engines and their Aircraft," Alec Lumsden, ISBN 1853102946
- Development of the Diesel Aircraft Engine , enginehistory.org (PDF; 647 kB)
- "The Bristol" Phoenix "Diesel", Flight , edition v. May 24, 1934, page 504 ff. , Available online at flightglobal.com - Aviation History - PDF archive, in English - accessed on May 21, 2015