The Renault 6Q, also called the Renault Bengali 6, is an air-cooled inverted in-line six-cylinder, aircraft piston engine, producing about continuous power. It was designed and built in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and produced for more than ten years after its homologation in 1936, with large numbers built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Design and development

The six-cylinder Renault 6Q and the four-cylinder

Renault 4P The Renault 4P, also called the Renault Bengali Junior, was a series of air-cooled 4-cylinder inverted inline aero engines designed and built in France from 1927, which produced from to . Design and development Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic Ocea ...

, both from the early 1930s, shared the same bore, stroke and pistons. The 6Q was built in both unsupercharged and supercharged forms. The

centrifugal Centrifugal (a key concept in rotating systems) may refer to: *Centrifugal casting (industrial), Centrifugal casting (silversmithing), and Spin casting (centrifugal rubber mold casting), forms of centrifigual casting *Centrifugal clutch *Centrifug ...

supercharger 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 (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

was added at the back of the engine, driven off the

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, ...

via step-up gearing. It added to the weight and to the length but boosted the performance at altitude to a continuous power of at 2,500 rpm and . Two pre-war models were optimised to different altitudes, the 02/03 right- and left-handed pair to , with 7.61:1 gearing and the 04/05 pair to , with 12.274 gearing.

Operational history

The 6Q was homologated in 1936; 1700 were built before the war and 1660 during it. Post-war, production was resumed. The majority of pre-war 6Qs were used in

Caudron C.440 Goéland The Caudron C.440 ''Goéland'' ("seagull") was a six-seat twin-engine utility aircraft developed in France in the mid-1930s. Design and development It was a conventionally configured low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel Landing gear, un ...

s, during the war in Goélands and post-war in Nord's

Messerschmitt Bf 108 The Messerschmitt Bf 108 ''Taifun'' (English: "Typhoon") is a single-engine sport and touring aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). It was the first aircraft of its size to feature all ...

derived Nord Pingouin, in the Nord Noralpha and Ramier Bf 108 developments.

Variants

Even sub-type numbers rotate clockwise, odd numbers anti-clockwise as seen from engine. ;Renault 6Q-00/01: Unsupercharged LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-02/03: Supercharged to LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-04/05: Supercharged to LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-06/07: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-08/09: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-10/11: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-18/19: LH/RH rotation ;Renault 6Q-20/21: LH/RH rotation

Applications

* Caudron C.631-5 Simoun * Caudron C.640 Typhon *

Caudron C.690 __NOTOC__ The Caudron C.690 was a single-seat Trainer (aircraft), training aircraft developed in France in the late 1930s to train Fighter aircraft, fighter pilots to handle high-performance aircraft. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever mon ...

* Caudron C.860 * Dewoitine HD.730 * Farman F.430 * Hanriot H.230 * Morane-Saulnier MS.350 * Morane-Saulnier MS.501 * Nord 1101/2 Noralpha/Ramier * Nord Pingouin * Potez 661 * Rey R.1 * SNCASE SE-700 * SNCASE SE-1210

Engines on display

* Ailes Anciennes,

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

: Renault 6Q 10 in a Nord 1101 Ramier I.

Specifications (post-war unsupercharged)

References

{{Renault aeroengines Air-cooled aircraft piston engines Inverted aircraft piston engines 1930s aircraft piston engines 6 Straight-six engines