Fairchild Ranger

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The Ranger engine is an inverted inline six cylinder aircraft engine. Ranger Engines were built by the Fairchild Aircraft corporation of Hagerstown Maryland in the 1930s and 1940s. Rangers powered the Fairchild PT-19 trainer, the Fairchild PT-26 trainer, the Fairchild F-24 (Fairchild 24), and the Grummen G-44 Widgeon amphibious flying boat. Ranger engines are light and rugged, and 15,090 were built during World War II. The inverted design with the crank shaft on top allowed the propeller to be high off the ground. Inlined cylinders allow the engine to be narrow and have less air drag. Early versions of the Ranger were 145 hp, then 175 hp, and increased to 200 hp at the end of World War II. After WWII, surplus rangers were used for dirt track racing cars and drag racers in the 1950s. The engine had seven main bearings and a few magnesium parts, both unusual in an engine this small.

A twelve cylinder V-12 version was built, but the effort almost bankrupted the Fairchild company.