| Cirrus Major | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Right side view of a Cirrus Major III installed in an Auster J/5G | |
| Type | Air-cooled 4-cylinder inline piston engine |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Blackburn Aircraft |
| First run | 1936 |
| Number built | c.700 |
The Blackburn Cirrus Major is a British, inline-four aircraft engine which was developed in the late 1930s.
The Blackburn Cirrus Major started life as a development of the original Cirrus and Hermes series of aircraft engines which had been in production for the last decade. C. S. Napier, son of engine designer Montague Napier, was Technical Director and Chief Designer for Cirrus-Hermes Engineering when he began work on two new engines, the Cirrus minor and the larger Cirrus Major. The engines were still under development when the company was bought by the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company, moved to a new factory at Brough in Yorkshire and renamed Cirrus Hermes Engineering. [1] [2]
Like all the Cirrus engines, the Major was an air-cooled inverted four-cylinder inline design. Aimed at the same market for a robust, reliable and affordable light aircraft engine, it retained many proven design features of the originals while making many improvements. The cylinder barrels were of forged steel while the individual heads were of light alloy. Unlike the Minor, the Major retained the established long bolts which passed through the barrels to secure the heads to the crankcase, as well as the general layout of the heads from the Hermes IV A, which remained in production. Pistons and con-rods were of light alloys, with a steel crankshaft. Direct drive to the propeller, without reduction gearing, helped to keep engine revs low and reliability high. The single carburettor was a Claudel Hobson AV.48D. [1]
In 1935 the Cirrus Minor entered production and the Major followed soon afterwards. Two years later, with its product range now rationalised and the new engines settled in the marketplace, the company was brought into its parent as the Cirrus Engines Division of Blackburn Aircraft.
Data fromLumsden [3]
Related development
Comparable engines
Related lists
The Bristol Perseus was a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aircraft engine produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1932. It was the first production sleeve valve aero engine.
The de Havilland Gipsy Major or Gipsy IIIA is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline engine used in a variety of light aircraft produced in the 1930s, including the famous Tiger Moth biplane. Many Gipsy Major engines still power vintage aircraft types.
The Cirrus and Hermes or Cirrus-Hermes are a series of British aero engines manufactured, under various changes of ownership, from the 1920s until the 1950s. The engines were all air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types, with earlier ones upright and later designs inverted.
The Rolls-Royce Falcon is an aero engine developed in 1915. It was a smaller version of the Rolls-Royce Eagle, a liquid-cooled V-12 of 867 cu in capacity. Fitted to many British World War I-era aircraft, production ceased in 1927. The Falcon was designed by R.W. Harvey-Bailey.
The Rolls-Royce Condor aircraft piston engine is a larger version of the Rolls-Royce Eagle developing up to 675 horsepower. The engine first ran in 1918 and a total of 327 engines were recorded as being built.
The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre capacity engine, later versions were designed to run inverted with increased capacity and power.
The de Havilland Gipsy Six is a British six-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline piston engine developed by the de Havilland Engine Company for aircraft use in the 1930s. It was based on the cylinders of the four-cylinder Gipsy Major and was developed into a series of similar aero engines which were still in common use until the 1980s.
The Walter Mikron is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted straight engine for aircraft.
The Walter Minor is a family of four- and six-cylinder inverted inline air-cooled engines, developed under auspices of ing. Šimůnek and used on light aircraft. First produced in 1929, the Minor engines' family has an advanced design for the period and sports steel cylinders, aluminum heads and overhead valves, with identical bore and stroke of 105 mm (4.1 in) and 115 mm (4.5 in), respectively. Typical power ratings varied from 105 to 160 hp.
The Blackburn Cirrus Minor is a British four-cylinder, inverted, in-line air-cooled aero-engine that was designed and built by the Cirrus Engine Section of Blackburn Aircraft Limited in the late 1930s.
The Napier Dagger was a 24-cylinder H-pattern (or H-Block) air-cooled engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier before World War II. It was a development of the earlier Napier Rapier.
The Napier Rapier was a British 16-cylinder H pattern air-cooled aero engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier & Son shortly before World War II.
The ADC Cirrus is a series of British aero engines manufactured using surplus Renault parts by the Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) in the 1920s.
The de Havilland Gipsy Minor or Gipsy Junior is a British four-cylinder, air-cooled, inline engine that was used primarily in the de Havilland Moth Minor monoplane, both products being developed in the late 1930s.
The Napier Javelin was a British six-cylinder inline air-cooled engine designed by Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son. First flown in March 1934 in the prototype of the Percival Mew Gull racing aircraft, the engine was also used in the Spartan Arrow biplane and the Percival Gull.
The Blackburn Cirrus Bombardier is a British four-cylinder inline aircraft engine, developed and built by the Blackburn Aircraft company in the mid-1950s. The engine featured fuel injection.
The ADC Airdisco is a British V-8 aero engine that first ran in 1925.
The Blackburn Cirrus Midget was a British four-cylinder, inverted, inline air-cooled aero engine designed and built in 1937 by the Cirrus Engine Section of Blackburn Aircraft Limited. Little is known of its development and use, its sole aircraft application being reported as the Chilton D.W.1 although it is possible that this did not transpire.
The de Havilland Ghost was a British V-8 aero engine that first ran in 1928.
The Potez 6D is a French six cylinder inverted inline aircraft engine put into production after World War II in normal and supercharged versions. Unsupercharged, it produced a take-off power of 179 kW (240 hp) at 2,530 rpm.
