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Hispano-Suiza piston aero-engines were predominantly piston engines produced by Hispano-Suiza in France from the First World War through to the 1950s. Development of these engines started with the very successful V-8 engines which introduced many features which ensured the success of the Hispano-Suiza line.
Contents
Letter system
The Service technique de l'aéronautique (STAé) used a common designation system for the vast majority of engines produced in France, which signified the major attributes of the particular engines:-
- Manufacturer - In this case Hispano-Suiza
- 12 - the number of cylinders in any configuration (V, straight, W, horizontally opposed, radial,etc. etc.).
- Y - the family letter in capitals (note: in at least two instances the family designator consisted of two letters in capitals e.g. 14AA and 14AB), advancing alphabetically. (note:Hispano-Suiza avoided W to avoid confusion with W / Broad-arrow engines)
- a – sub variant indicator, (which could also indicate the rotation of the engine, where otherwise identical engines with opposite hand rotation were built, e.g. 12Ndr anti-clockwise and 12Nfr clockwise).
- r – attribute indicators, denoting various attributes that the engine might have, (r = reduction gearing, i = fuel injection, s = supercharged, etc. etc.)
- 1 - sub-sub variants were denoted by using a number after the letters, (e.g. 12Xhrs and 12Xhrs1), usually indicating differences in ancillary equipment.
Thus the 12Xgrs was of the X family, with reduction gearing and supercharger, whereas the 12Xhrs was identical but rotated in the opposite direction.
Number system
The STAé introduced a numbered attribute indicator from the late 1930s, thus;
12Y-26, 12Y-27 – left and right rotation versions of the same engine.
Basic versions of each engine had even numbers and opposite rotation version were odd numbered.
List of H-S piston aero-engines
Data from:Moteurs d'Aviation Hispano-Suiza
Livre d'Or de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Jun 28
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Jan 28
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Nov 29
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Dec 30
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Jun 30
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Nov 31
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Apr 32
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Oct 32
Hispano-Suiza:Revue et Bulletin Technique de la Société Française Hispano-Suiza Jan-Jun 35
Le moteur-canon V8 Hispano-Suiza
HISPANO-SUIZA:LES MOTEURS DE TOUS LES RECORDS
Aviafrance
(Type 89)
12Z-112Z-1712Z-89Hispano-Suiza in-house Type designations
Data from:
The Hispano-Suiza Type numbers were used for all Hispano-Suiza products, including cars trucks and engines: Types 21, 22 and 23 are known to have been cars.
Specifications
Data from: This table gives the major attributes of each engine model, where known.
Applications and chronology
This table gives a chronology of Hispano-Suiza aero-engines and a selection of their applications:Data from: