Tumansky M-87

M-87
Type Radial aero engine
Manufacturer Tumansky
First run 1938
Developed into Tumansky M-88

The Tumansky M-87 was a Soviet air-cooled aircraft radial engine that was developed in the late 1930s.

Contents

Development

In 1934, USSR licensed the French Gnome-Rhone 14K aircraft engine producing 800 hp (595 kW), which entered production as the M-85.[1] The engine was subsequently modified to M-86 which produced 960 hp (715 kW) at takeoff thanks to increased supercharging and a higher compression ratio.[1] The M-87 was created to further increase the power output. Cylinders and pistons were revised to increase the compression ratio and the supercharger was redesigned. The resulting engine had better high-altitude performance and entered production in 1938. However, the engine proved unreliable and suffered from failure of gears in the reduction gearbox.[1] Later the M-88 was designed to address the shortcomings of the M-87. At first the M-88 was not a success, but the designers persisted, and the M-88 was made into a reliable and widely produced engine. The M-87 was used in Ilyushin Il-4 and Sukhoi Su-2 bombers, and the Polikarpov I-180 fighter.

In hindsight the Tumansky family of engines developed from Gnome-Rhône 9K and Gnome-Rhône 14K, were far less successful than the Shvetsov family of engines developed from the Wright R-1820.

Specifications (M-87)

General characteristics

Components

Performance

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "DB-3". Airpages.ru. http://www.airpages.ru/cgi-bin/pg.pl?nav=ru20&page=il3. Retrieved 2007-01-08.