The Ranger V-770 was an American air-cooled inverted V-12 aircraft engine developed by the Ranger Aircraft Engine Division of the Fairchild Engine & Aircraft Corporation in the early 1930s.

Design and development

In 1931, the V-770 design was built, derived from the

Ranger 6-440 The Ranger L-440 (company designation 6-440C) are six-cylinder inline inverted air-cooled aero-engines produced by the Ranger Aircraft Engine Division of the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation of Farmingdale, New York, United States. Th ...

series of inverted inline air-cooled engines, and test flown in the

Vought Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought ...

XSO2U-1 Scout. In 1938 it was tested in the

Curtiss SO3C Seamew The Curtiss SO3C Seamew was developed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation as a replacement for the SOC Seagull as the United States Navy's standard floatplane scout. Curtiss named the SO3C the ''Seamew'' but in 1941 the US Navy began calling it b ...

but was found to be unreliable with a tendency to overheat in low-speed flight, but would still be the most produced aircraft to have the V-770, with 795 being built. Its competitor Vought XSO2U also suffered from overheating problems that were never satisfactorily solved. By 1941 a more developed V-770 was installed in the Fairchild XAT-14 Gunner prototype gunnery school aircraft, which went into limited production as the

Fairchild AT-21 Gunner The Fairchild AT-21 was an American World War II specialized bomber crew trainer, intended to train crews in the use of power gun turrets or a gun on a flexible mount, as well as learn to function as a member of a crew. It had a brief career ...

, of which 174 were built, not including one radial engine prototype. Produced from 1941 to 1945, the V-770 featured a two-piece aluminum alloy crankcase, steel cylinder barrels with integral

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

alloy fins and aluminum alloy heads. The V-770 was the only American inverted V-12 air-cooled engine to reach production. The engine was used in very few aircraft, among them the short lived Fairchild AT-21 twin-engine bomber trainer, and in the two

Bell XP-77 The Bell XP-77 development was initiated by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II to produce a simplified "lightweight" fighter aircraft using non-strategic materials. Despite being innovative, the diminutive prototype proved tr ...

light-weight fighter prototypes.

Variants

Ranger V-770 engine installation in Bell XP-77A

;V-770-4: Installed in the

Vought XSO2U-1 The Vought XSO2U was an American observation floatplane developed by Vought-Sikorsky for the United States Navy during the late 1930s. Intended to replace the Curtiss SOC Seagull in service as a scout aboard cruisers, it proved superior to the ...

scout aircraft ;V-770-6: Installed in the

Fairchild XAT-14 Gunner The Fairchild AT-21 was an American World War II specialized bomber crew trainer, intended to train crews in the use of power gun turrets or a gun on a flexible mount, as well as learn to function as a member of a crew. It had a brief career ...

prototype, intended for the Ryan SOR-1 Scout ;V-770-7: Installed in the

lightweight fighter prototype ;V-770-8: Installed in the

Scout. ;V-770-9: Installed in the North American XAT-6E Texan prototype. ;V-770-11: Installed in the Fairchild AT-21 Gunner. ;V-770-15: Installed in the Fairchild AT-21 Gunner. ;V-770-17: Similar to V-770-8 but with raised hollow propeller shaft for mounting cannon or machine gun. ;GV-770: Geared un-supercharged variants. ;SV-770: Supercharged direct-drive variants. ;SGV-770: Supercharged and geared variants. ;SGV-770C-1: Tested in the Curtiss XF6C-7 Hawk fighter-bomber at . ;SGV-770C-1B: (V-770-11) ;SGV-770C-2A: (V-770-8) ;SGV-770C-B1: Installed in the Ikarus 214 prototype ;SGV-770D-4: (V-770-17) Similar to C-2A but with raised hollow propeller shaft for mounting cannon or machine gun. ;SGV-770D-5: Developed for post-war commercial use, at 3,600 RPM, weight , height , length , width

Applications

* AEKKEA-RAAB R-29 *

* Edo OSE * Fairchild F-46 *

Fairchild BQ-3 The Fairchild BQ-3, also known as the Model 79, was an early expendable unmanned aerial vehicle – referred to at the time as an " assault drone" – developed by Fairchild Aircraft from the company's AT-21 Gunner advanced trainer during the Se ...

* Ikarus 213/Utva 213 Vihor * Ikarus 214 (prototype) * Vought XSO2U *

North American XAT-6E The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft, which was used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Air Force (USAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Ro ...

Engines on display

* One restored engine in storage at the

Carolinas Aviation Museum The Sullenberger Aviation Museum, formerly the Carolinas Aviation Museum, is an aviation museum on the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is one of a few aviation museums located at an airport ...

* One survives at Cincinnati State Aviation school * One modified V-770 survives in an art car by Michael LeedsBlown Ranger
/ref> * The

Yankee Air Museum The Michigan Flight Museum, formerly known as the Yankee Air Museum, is an aviation museum located at Willow Run Airport, and in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display air ...

has a V-770 on display. * One restored engine at the

Vintage Flying Museum The Vintage Flying Museum is a non-profit aviation museum located at Meacham International Airport, Fort Worth, Texas. The primary mission of the museum is to preserve America's flying heritage in word, deed and action. Also located at the museu ...

in Fort Worth.

Specifications (SGV-770C-1)

References