The Sunbeam Arab was a British First World War era

aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

Design and development

By 1916 the demand for aero-engines was placing huge demands on manufacturing. To help ease the pressure the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD ...

standardised on engines of about ; one of these was a V-8 water-cooled engine from Sunbeam known as the Arab. Using cast aluminium alloy cylinder blocks and heads with die-cast aluminium alloy pistons, the Arab had a bore of and stroke of for a capacity of , developing at 2,000 rpm. First bench-run in 1916, the Arab was obviously inspired by the Hispano-Suiza V-8 engines but with very little in common when examined in detail. After submission to the Internal Combustion Engine Committee of the

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Sunbeam received an order for 1,000 in March 1917, increased to 2,000 in June 1917 as well as another 2,160 to be built by Austin Motors (1,000), Lanchester Motor Company (300), Napier & Son (300), and Willys Overland (560) in the

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. Bench testing revealed defects which required rectification, delaying completion of production drawings. Despite the delays one of the first flight-ready Arabs flew in a Martinsyde F.2 two-seat fighter/reconnaissance aircraft in mid 1917. Service use of the Arab was limited because of poor reliability and persistent vibration problems, causing some 2,350 orders to be cancelled and remaining orders 'settled', compensating manufacturers for costs incurred. Developed from the Arab were the inverted V-8 ''Sunbeam Bedouin'', straight six ''Sunbeam Dyak'', W-12 ''Sunbeam Kaffir'', and 20 cylinder radial ''Sunbeam Malay''.

Variants

;Arab :The production engine loosely based on the Hispano-Suiza 8 V-8 engines. ;Bedouin :In common with many other contemporary engine manufacturers the Arab was re-designed to run inverted and given the name Sunbeam Bedouin. Intended to provide better forward visibility for single-engined aircraft there is no evidence that the Bedouoin was fitted to an aircraft or flew. ;Kaffir :A W-12 broad arrow engine using blocks, heads and valve-gear from the Arab, giving . Bore remained the same at , but with a stroke of . ; Dyak :A straight six extrapolation of the Arab retaining the stroke and bore of the Arab, but with only two valves per cylinder as opposed to the three valves on the Arab. ; Pathan :Coatalen expressed his interest in diesel engines by designing a diesel derivative of the Dyak with the same attributes, developing at 1,500 rpm. Only prototypes of the Pathan were built. ;Malay :The ''Sunbeam Malay'' was a 20-cylinder radial aircraft engine of capacity manufactured by

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...

using five four-cylinder blocks from the Arab arranged around a central crankshaft. The Malay retained the × bore and stroke of the Arab, as well as the three valves per cylinder and overhead cam shafts. Nominally rated at , the Malay was not put into production.

Applications

''Data from Brew''. *

Armstrong-Whitworth F.K.10 The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 was a British two-seat quadruplane (''i.e.'', four wing) fighter aircraft built by Armstrong Whitworth during the First World War. While it was ordered in small numbers for the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Nava ...

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Sunbeam 1917 Bomber The Sunbeam Bomber was a prototype single-engined, single seat bomber aircraft of the First World War. Only one example flew as the type proved to be unsuccessful and was abandoned. Design and development Following the outbreak of the First W ...

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Specifications (Arab I)

References

Bibliography

* Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. . * Brew, Alec. ''Sunbeam Aero-Engines''. Airlife Publishing. Shrewsbury.

External links

* * {{Sunbeam aeroengines

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

1910s aircraft piston engines