Chrysler Aircraft Engines by Kimble McCutcheon

[WJPearce]

Hello all,

A new book is out focusing on the Chrysler XIV-2220 V-16 "hyper" engine: Chrysler Aircraft Engines by Kimble McCutcheon. Below is some info from the publisher.

From the early 1930s until just after World War II, engine designers worked to create a new and more powerful generation of piston aircraft engines. Military aircraft designers hoped these engines would give bombers intercontinental range and propel fighters to speeds of over 500 miles per hour. One such engine was the Chrysler XI-2220, an inverted V-16 less than 34 inches in diameter that produced 2,500 horsepower. This book tells the fascinating story of young automotive engineers and the engine they designed, built and flew during WWII.

Chrysler Aircraft Engines is the second in a series of books about experimental engines built for the U.S. Army before and during World War II.

Chrysler Aircraft Engines is extensively researched using material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Chrysler Historical Collection, U.S. National Archives, National Museum of the United States Air Force, and several individuals who worked on the project. With unprecedented detail, It provides practically a day-by-day account of XI-2220 development. It includes a bibliography and index.

ISBN: 978-09710847-7-3
8 1/4" x 10 3/4"
134 b/w and color photographs, line drawings
186 pages, Softbound

Price: US $27.95

Available from the publisher here: Chrysler Aircraft Engines

(the book does not really say "NEW!" on the cover)

 

[Johnbr]

Me and my late Dad both love there first book.

 

[Pasoleati]

Indeed the first one was excellent and probably this one too. But where are really in-depth treatises on German piston aircraft engines? E.g. the DB 605 is extremely poorly covered in in English or even in German. There simply are no German equivalents of White on the R-4360 and R-2800, Whitney on the V-1710 or the excellent RRHT series on RR engines.

 

[Johnbr]

Very Very true.

 

[Apteryx]

Very happy to see this--if Mr. McCutcheon has enough material to do a book on Pratt & Whitney's "Hyper," this will be a great series.

 

[WJPearce]

Regarding German engines, I completely agree that there need to be reference books on German engines. I'd also like Japanese, Italian, Russian, French and all the others to be covered too. And where is the book covering all of Bristol's engines? Where is the one on Wright Aeronautical?

In the past 15 years or so, I think we have seen a number of books come out focusing on engines. I hope this trend continues and that those gaps in engine history will be filled. I think the issue is that the right person (or publisher) has not gotten behind the right project. None of this stuff is easy. Mr. McCutcheon had a lot of info, a lot of contacts, the time, and the inspiration for the Chrysler book and the R-2160 book. We can only hope that others will follow in his footsteps, or White's, Whitney's, Kay's, Connors's, Neal's, etc.

Regarding other Hyper engine books, I think that is Mr. McCutcheon's plan; he is the right person for those projects. But like I said above, these things are not easy. The Chrysler book has over 50 sources listed in the bibliography and only one is a book you can go out and buy. The rest are all company reports, government reports, interviews, etc. It is a monumental task just to get all the information together. Then it is something much more to make sense of it all and put it together in book.

My hat is off to anyone who has worked on, or is working on, any book that will expand our knowledge.

 

[Grey Havoc]

On a side note, regarding the Chrysler XI-2220:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8pWs5sRCnQ

Tom Fey
578 subscribers


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This rare 1945 color film of the Republic XP-47H powered by the Chrysler XI-2220 engine was shot by Carl Breer, Head of Research Engineering for Chrysler at the time. The XI-2220 engine was a turbo supercharged, liquid cooled, inverted V-16 power plant that produced 2,500 horsepower from 2,220 cubic inches (36.4 L) of displacement. The engine was fitted to a highly modified Republic P-47 Thunderbolt for ground running and flight testing starting in early 1945. Due to the novel engine, extensive airframe modifications, and complex turbo supercharging system, the XP-47H did not fly until late July 1945. By the end of WWII three weeks later, it was already clear the future was the turbojet engine, not pistons. Three XI-2220 engines survive: Serial number D-000001 at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT; D-000006 and XP-47H firewall-forward in the collection of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Chantilly, VA, and D-000005 is held by the Chrysler Foundation. This film was digitized and narrated by Carl Breer’s son, William, and shared with me by Paul Wise who worked on the XI-2220 engine and flight test program. The film is presented here with the kind permission of Carl Breer II, grandson of the photographer, Carl Breer. The definitive work on the XI-2220 engine and XP-47H is Chrysler Aircraft Engines by Kimble D. McCutcheon (2012) and an excellent chapter on the XI-2220 can be found in Willem L. Weertman’s Chrysler Engines, 1922-1998 (2007).