The Avia Rk.17 was a 9-cylinder

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A ...

aircraft engine, developed from the 7-cylinder Avia Rk.12, with a rated output of 270 kW (360 hp). The Rk.17 was one of

Avia AVIA () is a Soviet/Russian experimental pop band formed in Leningrad in 1986. AVIA released four studio albums and led the first wave of the Soviet bands which made their breakthrough in the West in the late 1980s. Band history AVIA was formed ...

's own designs and was built in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in the 1930s.

Design and development

As well as producing aircraft and building

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapons. ...

and

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

aero-engines under licence, Avia also designed and built their own radial engines. The Rk.17 was a 9-cylinder

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered (usually by ...

model, rated at 360 hp. It was a nine-cylinder version of their Rk.12. It was a conventional air-cooled radial: nitrided steel barrels with integral fins were screwed into heat treated

Y alloy Y alloy is a nickel-containing aluminium alloy. It was developed by the British National Physical Laboratory during World War I, in an attempt to find an aluminium alloy that would retain its strength at high temperatures. Duralumin, an alumini ...

heads. The

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder (engine), cylinder a ...

s were also of heat treated Y alloy. The

crankcase A crankcase is the housing in a reciprocating engine, piston engine that surrounds the crankshaft. In most modern engines, the crankcase is integrated into the engine block. Two-stroke engines typically use a crankcase-compression design, res ...

was cast from heat treated silumin alloy, with some minor parts using magnesium alloy. The single throw two piece

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a reciprocating engine, piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating Shaft (mechanical engineering), shaft containing one or more crankpins, ...

was linked to the pistons with an I-section Y alloy

master rod Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

, with a single piece big end, which carried the other eight

piston rod In a piston engine, a piston rod joins a piston to the crosshead and thus to the connecting rod that drives the crankshaft or (for steam locomotives) the driving wheels. Internal combustion engines, and in particular all current automobile engin ...

Applications

* Avia Ba.122 *

Letov Š-50 __NOTOC__ The Letov Š-50 was a 1930s prototype Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak military general-purpose monoplane, designed and built by Letov Kbely, Letov.Orbis 1985, p. 2316 Development The Š-50 was an all-metal twin-engined low mid-wing monopl ...

Design and development

Applications

Specifications

References

Further reading