Page 29 - Volume 14 Number 8

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Manufacturing the Hispano-Suiza V-8 was challenging from the standpoint of fabrication and assembly. A senior Wright-Martin official summed up the situation:
“It must be remembered that in 1917 there were extremely few men in America with any experience of so delicate a manufacturing proposition as an aviation motor, and this made it difficult to obtain much assistance from the outside.” He went on to state that, “One of the basic features of the Hispano-Suiza engine is an aluminum casting of considerable delicacy and quite intricate. In Europe, the best foundries have been unable to produce this part so that it can be machined without previously being repaired by difficult hand work. In America, the usual sources of supply of aluminum castings were unwilling to undertake the job, so the Wright-Martin Corporation had to establish its own foundry. This was done to such good purpose that the castings being made in the autumn of 1917 were infinitely superior in quality to any obtainable in Europe right up to the end of the war.”
During the war orders for the 150-horsepower engine built by the Wright-Martin Corporation increased in value from $2 million in September 1917 to about $50 million by October 1918. If the war had continued into January 1919, production of 30 engines per day and 2,000 units per month was planned. KA
Notes:
1. The custom-made trophy cost Henry Ford $7,000. It remains
on permanent display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
Michigan.
2. The Mercedes engine powered a number of successful German
designs including the Pfalz and Albatross single-seat fighters
and the famous Fokker D-VII.
3. When the war ended in November 1918, about 25,000 workers
were engaged in manufacturing Birkight’s V-8 in 14 French factories, supplanted by one in England, three in Italy, one in Spain and one in Japan.
4. Manufacture of the 300-horspower version was planned in parallel with the 150-horsepower engine but work on the 200-horsepower V-8 was terminated. In November 1918, the more powerful version was tested and performed well, and Wright-Martin was preparing to build as many as 1,000 units per month when the Armistice was declared on November 11 of that year. A total of more than 49,000 engines of all types were built during the war.
Ed Phillips, now retired and living in the South, has researched and written eight books on the unique and rich aviation history that belongs to Wichita, Kan. His writings have focused on the evolution of the airplanes, companies and people that have made Wichita the “Air Capital of the World” for more than 80 years.
AUGUST 2020
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 27