The Cirrus and Hermes or Cirrus-Hermes are a series of British aero engines manufactured, under various changes of ownership, from the 1920s until the 1950s. The engines were all air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types, with earlier ones upright and later designs inverted.
26-452: The first Cirrus design was created for the planned de Havilland Moth light aeroplane and, when it appeared in 1925, created the market for private flying. It and its successors were widely used for private and light aircraft from that moment on. The Cirrus engine originated in Geoffrey de Havilland 's 1924 quest for a powerplant suited to a light two-seat sports biplane which would become
52-516: A different engine was principally adopted. De Havilland Moth The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes, and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland . In the late 1920s and 1930s, they were the most common civilian aircraft flying in Britain, and during that time every light aircraft flying in the UK was commonly referred to as a Moth, regardless if it
78-835: The Blackburn Cirrus name. By 1937, pressure to re-arm was growing and the Yorkshire factory was approaching capacity. A fortuitous friendship between Maurice Denny , managing director of William Denny and Brothers , the Dumbarton ship building company, and Robert Blackburn resulted in the building of a new Blackburn factory at Barge Park, Dumbarton where production of the Blackburn Botha commenced in 1939. Blackburn amalgamated with General Aircraft Limited in 1949 as Blackburn and General Aircraft Limited, reverting to Blackburn Aircraft Limited by 1958. As part of
104-542: The Blackburn Cirrus Bombardier with fuel injection and a higher compression ratio, giving increased output. When Blackburn Aircraft merged with General Aircraft Limited (GAL) in 1949, becoming Blackburn & General Aircraft Limited, it continued to market the Minor, Major and Bombardier range until the late 1950s. List from Lumsden except where noted. The list includes trial installations where
130-519: The de Havilland Moth . No suitable engine, combining a suitable power output with light weight, low cost and high reliability existed at the time. The Aircraft Disposal Company (also known as Airdisco and ADC) were producing the low-cost Airdisco V8 which had been developed by Frank Halford from their large stocks of war surplus Renault V8 aero engines. The Renault was renowned for its reliability. De Havilland realised that half of this engine would make an air-cooled four-cylinder inline engine of just
156-708: The "Cirrus Moth". As the DH.60 became more and more popular, de Havilland decided to cash in on the fame of the original by giving each of his new designs a name ending with Moth . First of them was the DH.61 , a giant five-passenger biplane aptly called "Giant Moth". Other Moths include the Leopard Moth and Hornet Moth cabin biplanes, the Puss Moth cabin monoplane and the Moth Minor low-wing two-seater. The most famous of
182-543: The Cirrus III under license. Having developed the American Cirrus III engine at New Jersey, the company moved to Marysville, Michigan, where it set up production. The engine was rated at 95 horsepower (71 kW) at 2100 revolutions per minute. The company became known as the A.C.E. Corporation. A new range of 95 horsepower (71 kW) inverted engines was branded Hi-Drive and appeared under names such as
208-538: The Cirrus company continued to develop new models, with the uprated Hermes appearing in 1929. It had been developed by ADC to provide more power than even the Cirrus III. Overall slightly shorter but with much the same overall weight, it delivered 105 horsepower (78 kW). American Cirrus Engines, Inc. was a subsidiary of Allied Motor Industries, Inc. set up at Belleville, N.J. in November 1928, initially to manufacture
234-578: The Hi-Drive Cirrus III and Hi-Drive Ensign. The Hi-Drive was supplied in direct and geared drive options, and was designed to accept a de Palma supercharger for increased performance. In 1935 A.C.E. was taken over by Menasco , who developed the inverted engine as the Pirate , sold from 1936, and a six-cylinder derivative as the Buccaneer . The independent Cirrus-Hermes Engineering Company
260-584: The Moths, however, for sheer numbers built (nearly 9,000), is the DH.82 Tiger Moth - a biplane trainer used during the Second World War in Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations , and the aircraft in which all Second World War RAF pilots learned to fly. The prototype of the DH.84 Dragon light passenger plane was originally called "Dragon Moth", but later the "moth" in its name was dropped as
286-672: The USA. It was owned 90% by Detroit Aircraft Corp. and 10% by Blackburn Airplane & Motor Co., Ltd. Agreements covered such rights in North and South America, excepting Brazil and certain rights in Canada and provided that all special tools and patterns were to be supplied by the UK company at cost. The company had factories at Olympia in Leeds, Sherburn-in-Elmet , Brough (East Yorkshire) and Dumbarton. In
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#1732781051656312-509: The company's Olympia Works at Roundhay opening in 1914. The Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company was created in 1914 and established in a new factory at Brough , East Riding of Yorkshire in 1916. Robert's brother Norman Blackburn later became managing director. Blackburn acquired the Cirrus-Hermes Engineering company in 1934, beginning its manufacture of aircraft engines. However an updated range of engines
338-549: The development and initial sales of the Cirrus Minor and Cirrus Major , Blackburn kept Cirrus Hermes as a separate company (though without the hyphen in its name). Although completely new designs, they were of broadly similar layout to the previous inverted engines, with the Minor in the 70-80 hp class and the Major giving 125 hp in normal use. Coming to the market almost together in 1935, they rationalised and replaced
364-483: The early days, Blackburn himself flew aircraft on the beaches at Marske and Filey , with the company also using the former RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor . Before production shifted to Sherburn-in-Elmet and Brough from the Leeds site, aircraft were flown in and out of Olympia works by an adjacent airstrip in Roundhay Park. The company also produced aircraft from other aircraft companies' specifications, such as
390-521: The end of the year, but development continued. The Cirrus III was introduced in 1928 with even greater displacement and power of 85 horsepower (63 kW). As ADC began to run out of the Renault engines in 1928, Cirrus Aero Engines Limited was formed at Croydon to manufacture the Cirrus models from scratch. Although Halford was no longer associated with it (having gone off to develop the next-generation but otherwise similar de Havilland Gipsy series),
416-547: The pilot's view in a single-engined type. All subsequent models would be inverted. By this time C. S. Napier, son of Montague Napier , had joined as technical director and engine designer. He began work on two new engines but before they could be finished the company came under new management. In 1934 the company was taken over by the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company and moved to Brough in Yorkshire. Napier remained technical director and, while he completed
442-622: The plane was a civilian airliner and the name moth was to be used for sports planes only. In June 1979 a rally of 63 De Havilland planes (mainly Tiger Moths) undertook a staged race from the De Havilland aerodrome at Hatfield to Strathallan airfield in Perthshire over three consecutive days. The rally marked the 50th anniversary of the Gypsy Engine Reliability Tour in 1929. Titled the "DH MOTH AIR RALLY" it
468-562: The previous ranges. Once the new Cirrus engines were established, in 1937 the company became the Cirrus Engine Division of Blackburn, which itself had been incorporated into Blackburn Aircraft Limited . The Blackburn Cirrus Midget was a smaller version developed in 1938 but it failed to enter production. During and after WWII Blackburn produced uprated versions of the Cirrus Minor and Major. In 1948 it introduced
494-486: The rationalisation of British aircraft manufacturers, its aircraft production and engine operations were absorbed into Hawker Siddeley and Bristol Siddeley respectively in 1960/1961. The Blackburn name was dropped completely in 1963. An American company, Blackburn Aircraft Corp., was incorporated in Detroit on 20 May 1929 to acquire design and patent rights of the aircraft of Blackburn Airplane & Motor Co., Ltd. in
520-531: The right size and at low cost. He persuaded Halford to undertake its design and development. The cylinders, pistons, con-rods and gearing were taken from the Renault, with the valve gear based on the Airdisco , and a new five-bearing crankshaft and cast crankcase were designed. Developing 60 horsepower (45 kW) in normal flight it became the first Cirrus engine, and the first air-cooled four-cylinder inline aero engine, to go into quantity production. The Cirrus
546-517: Was de Havilland -built or not. The first Moth was the DH.60 - a straight-winged biplane two-seater. To enable storing the plane in small spaces, the DH.60's wings could fold backwards against the fuselage. "Like a moth " remarked Geoffrey de Havilland, an avid lepidopterist , so the plane was nicknamed Moth from the drawing board on. The Moth was one of the first practical light aircraft designs to be intended for civilian training and recreational use, rather than for military buyers. The Moth
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#1732781051656572-461: Was also one of the first light aircraft to be mass produced, and was available to a much wider section of the general public than previous aircraft designs. First variations of the name began with changes in the engine used for the DH.60: Variants with a Cirrus Hermes , Armstrong Siddeley Genet , or de Havilland Gipsy engine became "Hermes Moth", "Genet Moth", or "Gipsy Moth", respectively. The original ADC Cirrus -powered DH.60 retroactively became
598-467: Was formed in 1931. The Hermes models I, II, III and IV were produced ranging in power from 105 hp to 140 hp depending on type. While the Hermes II and III were uprights like their predecessors, the Hermes II B introduced a major change with the cylinders being inverted for the first time. The resulting high propeller line allowed the top of the engine to be lowered, which significantly improved
624-671: Was launched onto the market in the de Havilland Cirrus Moth , first in a long line of Moths, in 1925. The engine proved to be ideal for private light aircraft and it created a new era of private flying in the UK, in both the Cirrus Moth and other similar aircraft. It was simple enough to be understood and looked after by the private owner, while its reliability made private flying safe for the first time. Moreover it achieved these at an affordable cost. The uprated Cirrus II, with slightly greater displacement, delivered 75 horsepower (56 kW) from 1926. Halford ended his association with ADC at
650-604: Was sponsored by the Famous Grouse . Planes reached Strathallan on Saturday 30 June 1979 and there was an aerobatic display open to the public on the following day. Blackburn Aeroplane %26 Motor Company Blackburn Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1914 to 1963 that concentrated mainly on naval and maritime aircraft. Blackburn Aircraft was founded by Robert Blackburn and Jessy Blackburn , who built his first aircraft in Leeds in 1908 with
676-424: Was under development and Blackburn wanted to wait until it was established before giving its name to them, so Cirrus Hermes Engineering was retained as a separate company for the time being. The company's name was changed to Blackburn Aircraft Limited in 1936. In 1937, with the new Cirrus engines now well established, engine manufacturing was brought into the parent company as an operating division, giving rise to
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