Elizalde

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An Elizalde Tigre
Elizalde Beta engine
Detail of the Elizalde Beta

Elizalde SA was a Spanish motor vehicle manufacturing company founded in 1908 and headquartered in Barcelona . Arturo Elizalde Rouvier was the founder and owner of the company . The company took part in numerous racing events with its vehicles and was also able to record many victories.

In 1917 the company was selected by the Spanish military authorities to supply their own air force with engines. Initially two types were developed, the Elizalde T-41 with 100 HP (74 kW) and the Elizalde T-80 with 150 HP (110 kW). The latter was an air-cooled eight-cylinder engine in a V shape . The test bench runs and the flight tests in a Farman MF11 were successful, and large-scale production for 1919 was initiated. However, with the end of the fighting in 1918, the military administration canceled their orders. The company dealt again with the production of motor vehicles until 1924 the demand for aircraft engines arose again. Elizalde secured the right to replicate a 450 hp (331 kW) Lorraine engine, which was installed in the Bréguet XIX and Dornier Wal aircraft types built in Spain . After Arturo Elizalde's death in 1925, his wife Carmen Biada took over the management.

In 1926 the first engines with the designation Elizalde TO 3 were delivered according to the contract. The factory facilities had to be enlarged and a laboratory was added. In 1927, the previously successful vehicle construction was therefore completely abandoned. The development of engines of the Dragón series began, a range of air-cooled radial engines with five, seven and nine cylinders. In addition, the 12-cylinder W-engine Elizalde TO-4 was developed from the TO-3

Before the outbreak of the Spanish civil war , the company also manufactured 150 engines with 110 hp (81 kW) based on a license from the Czech manufacturer Walter . At that time, the further development of the Dragón, the Super-Dragón, was practically ready for production. The parts and documents that had already been completed for this purpose were destroyed in two bomb attacks after the outbreak of the civil war.

The company was collectivized under the number SAF 8 and, after resuming work, initially switched to the production of war material, including dropping ammunition, and then started building the Soviet M-25 engine, a copy of the American Wright Cyclone to return to engine construction. After the end of the fighting, the experience gained led to the development of a new radial engine with a supercharger and an output of 750 hp (551 kW), which was given the name Elizalde Beta and was intended for installation in the Junkers Ju 52 built in Spain .

Around 1940, Elizalde also began manufacturing the air-cooled four-cylinder in-line engine Elizalde Tigre IV , which developed 125 or 150 hp (92 or 110 kW) and was used in Spanish training aircraft such as the Bücker Bü 131 built by CASA . The first Dornier Do 25 built in Spain in 1955 also received a Tigre IV . The company was then chosen to supply the engines for the two aircraft types Hispano-Suiza HS-42 and CASA 201 . A new 500 hp (368 kW) radial engine Elizalde Sirio was also created .

On December 27, 1951, the company was nationalized and incorporated into the Instituto Nacional de Industria INI under the name Empresa Nacional de Motores de Aviación, SA (ENMASA).

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