Flathead V8 in an Airplane

Ford made a few experimental aluminum V8 blocks to power Ford built experimental aircraft. One of them was a tailless flying wing that ended up being scrapped. THere are photos in the latest V8 Times of it on page 63. Henry had thoughts of an airplane in everyone's garage but it was not to be.
 
rotorwrench said:
Ford made a few experimental aluminum V8 blocks to power Ford built experimental aircraft. One of them was a tailless flying wing that ended up being scrapped. THere are photos in the latest V8 Times of it on page 63.
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I'd guess you're referring to the Stout Model 15-P. In 1936, Ford’s Stout division did develop a two-seat flying wing named the Model 15-P. It was powered by a flathead Ford V8 mounted in the back of the plane, driving a tractor propeller through a driveshaft. After several test flights ended in crashes, however, the 15-P never went into production. Some really obscure old flying machinery here. DD

ford-15p.jpg
 
I would think that anyone knowledgeable enough to put the engine in a airplane. They'd be smart enough to adapt a pressurized carb from an aircraft engine. Had a 1947 Commonwealth with 85 HP engine, wouldn't fly on a hot day. Rate of climb indicator was calibrated in furlongs per fortnight.
 
Ol' Ron said:
I would think that anyone knowledgeable enough to put the engine in a airplane. They'd be smart enough to adapt a pressurized carb from an aircraft engine. Had a 1947 Commonwealth with 85 HP engine, wouldn't fly on a hot day. Rate of climb indicator was calibrated in furlongs per fortnight.
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Love it! LOL
 
I prefer the fuel injection for sure. I forget to pull the damn carb heat. Many of the older airplanes had the single venturi Marvel Schebler carbs but they were generally set up to be updraft so they wouldn't get too hot. The damn venturis used to come apart too easy on some of them. Some models were OK and others were not to good. Bendix/Stromberg pressure discharge carbs are kind of rare now.
 
Ol' Ron said:
I would think that anyone knowledgeable enough to put the engine in a airplane. They'd be smart enough to adapt a pressurized carb from an aircraft engine. Had a 1947 Commonwealth with 85 HP engine, wouldn't fly on a hot day. Rate of climb indicator was calibrated in furlongs per fortnight.
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Yeah, Ron. But that old Skystranger was roomy!!

Ron
 
A couple of years ago my daughter took me to a museaum near the Oakland airport and iI saw a 1940 airplane using a 36 ford motor, I was amazed.
 
The Funk Brothers built several (I believe 30) Funk highwing monoplanes powered with a Ford Model B engine - 50 hp. They were certified by the CAA (FAA now) and used a regular zenith carb with carb heat added. Performance was not stellar and most have been converted to Continental aircraft engines.

The EAA museum at Oshkosh has an original with the Ford engine still in Place. :o

Bill
 
I forgot that was the name of it. I can't believe they made a 65 HP version of it. It did have one redeeming fetcher tho, it couldn't stall, with those leading edge slots.
This wasn't my airplane,it belonged to David Harvey, a close persional frien of mine that taught me to fly. The Commonwealth was his first aircraft and a good teacher. the next aircraft was a 1957 Cessna 182.
 
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It is my understanding that this aluminum, overhead cam engine with V8-60 internals was being developed as a small aircraft engine. I don't have any particulars but it is at least an interesting theory.


 
The engines available for airplanes back then were far from numerous. Round motors other than the Kinners and the Warners were pretty big & bulky. The Ranger 6 is pretty big too. Home builders were all looking for a light weight powerplant that had enough power to fly your *** and a gallon of gas around the patch. Pietenpol started with the model T but moved to Model A engines to get enough power. They were still pretty heavy though. The L-head V8 was just a bit too heavy to be a good aircraft engine. A few folks got them to work successfully but they were always on the edge of a stall just to get around the patch.

It wasn't till around WWII that the more simple light weight opposed air cooled engines started to show up but even those had there ups & downs in the early years. It takes a lot of work to build an airplane so a guy wants something that will work as hard for him as he did for it.
 
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