Ranger V-770

V-770
Preserved Ranger V-770
Type Piston aero-engine
Manufacturer Ranger Aircraft Engine Division
First run 1931
Major applications Curtiss SO3C Seamew
Unit cost $11,000 U.S. Dollars circa 1944[1]

The Ranger V-770 was an American air-cooled inverted V-12 aero-engine developed by the Ranger Aircraft Engine Division of the Fairchild Engine & Aircraft Corporation in the early 1930s.[2]

Design and development

In 1931, the V-770 design was put to paper, based on the Ranger 6-440 series of inverted inline air-cooled engines, and test flown in the Vought XSO2U-1 Scout. In 1938 it was tested in the Curtiss SO3C Seamew and found to be unreliable with a tendency to overheat in low-speed flight.[3][4] By 1941 a more developed V-770 was installed in the Fairchild XAT-14 Gunner prototype and was used in the production Fairchild AT-21 Gunner gunnery school aircraft.[5]

Produced from 1941 to 1945, the V-770 featured a two-piece aluminum alloy crankcase, steel barreled cylinders with integral aluminum alloy fins and aluminum alloy heads. The V-770 was the only American inverted V12-type inline air-cooled engine to reach production. The engine was used in very few Army Air Forces aircraft, among them the short lived Fairchild AT-21 twin-engine bomber trainer,[1] and in the two Bell XP-77 light-weight fighter prototypes.

Variants

V-770-4
Installed in the Vought XSO2U-1 scout aircraft
V-770-6
Installed in the Fairchild XAT-14 Gunner prototype, intended for the Ryan SOR-1 Scout
V-770-7
Installed in the Bell XP-77 light-weight fighter prototype
V-770-8
Installed in the Curtiss SO3C Seamew Scout.[4]
V-770-9
Installed in the North American XAT-6E Texan prototype.[5]
V-770-11
Installed in the Fairchild AT-21 Gunner.[5]
V-770-15
Installed in the Fairchild AT-21 Gunner.[5]
SGV-770C-1
Tested in the Curtiss XF6C-7 Hawk Fighter-Bomber at 350 hp.[4]
SVG-770C-B1
Installed in the Ikarus 214 prototype
SGV-770D-5
Developed for post-war commercial use,[2] 700 hp (kW) at 3,600 RPM, weight 870 lb (395 kg), height 31.11 in (790 mm), length 74.92 in (1,900 mm), width 33.28 in (846 mm)

Applications

Specifications (SGV-770C-1)

Data from Janes Fighting Aircraft of World War II (1989) [2]

General characteristics

Components

Performance

Survivors

See also


Comparable engines
Related lists

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ranger V-770.
  1. 1 2 Ranger V-770 Inverted, National Museum of the USAF, retrieved 2008-11-07 Includes photo
  2. 1 2 3 Jane, Frederick Thomas; Bridgman, Leonard; Gunston, Bill (1989), 0-517-67964-7 Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II Check |url= value (help), London: Random House, ISBN 1-85170-493-0
  3. ↑ Smith, Herschel H. (1986), Aircraft Piston Engines: From the Manly Balzer to the Continental Tiara, Sunflower University Press, ISBN 978-0-89745-079-9
  4. 1 2 3 Eden, Paul; Moeng, Soph (2002), The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, London: Amber Books, ISBN 978-0-7607-3432-2
  5. 1 2 3 4 Swanborough, F. G.; Bowers, Peter M. (1964), United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, New York: Putnam, ISBN 0-85177-816-X
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