Wright R-1820 Cyclone

The R-1820 Cyclone 9 represented a further development of the Wright P-2 engine dating back to 1925. Featuring a greater displacement and a host of improvements, the R-1820 entered production in 1931. The engine remained in production well into the 1950s.

The R-1820 was built under license by Lycoming, Pratt & Whitney Canada, and also, during World War II, by the Studebaker Corporation. The Soviet Union had purchased a license for the design, and the Shvetsov OKB was formed to metricate the American specification powerplant for Soviet government-factory production as the M-25, with the R-1820's general design features used by the Shvetsov design bureau for many of their future radials for the Soviet air forces through the 1940s and onwards. In Spain the R-1820 was license-built as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V.[2]

The R-1820 was at the heart of many famous aircraft including early Douglas airliners (the prototype DC-1, the DC-2, the first civil versions of the DC-3, and the limited-production DC-5), every wartime example of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Douglas SBD Dauntless bombers, the early versions of the Polikarpov I-16 fighter (as the M-25), and the Piasecki H-21 helicopter.

The R-1820 also found limited use in armoured vehicles. The G-200 variant developed 900 hp (670 kW) at 2,300 rpm and powered the strictly experimental M6 Heavy Tank.

Notes: Unit numbers ending with W indicate engine variants fitted with water-methanol emergency power boost systems.

Preserved Wright R-1820 engines are on display at the following museums:

• American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum[5]
• Fleet Air Arm Museum
• Delta Flight Museum
• National Air and Space Museum
• National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

• 
  Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engine of restored Douglas DC-3 "Flagship Knoxville" at American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum
• 
  Wright R-1820 cutaway at the Museum of Aviation
• 
  Wright R-1820 at the Museum of Aviation

Data from Jane's. [6]

Related development

• Wright Cyclone family
• Wright R-1300 Cyclone 7
• Wright R-2600 Cyclone 14 (Twin Cyclone)
• Wright R-3350 Cyclone 18 (Duplex Cyclone)
• Shvetsov M-25
• Shvetsov ASh-62

Comparable engines

• Alfa Romeo 128
• BMW 114
• Nakajima Hikari
• Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp
• Bristol Pegasus

Related lists

• List of aircraft engines

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wright R-1820.

• Bridgman, L, (ed.) (1998) Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. Crescent. ISBN 0-517-67964-7.
• Eden, Paul & Soph Moeng, The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Amber Books Ltd. Bradley's Close, 74-77 White Lion Street, London, NI 9PF, 2002, ISBN 0-7607-3432-1.
• Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines: From the Pioneers to the Present Day. 5th edition, Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2006.ISBN 0-7509-4479-X
• White, Graham. Allied Aircraft Piston Engines of World War II: History and Development of Frontline Aircraft Piston Engines Produced by Great Britain and the United States During World War II. Warrendale, Pennsylvania: SAE International, 1995. ISBN 1-56091-655-9
• Lage, Manual (2004). Hispano Suiza in Aeronautics. Warrendale, USA: SAE International. ISBN 0-7680-0997-9.
• "Aircraft Engines in Armored Vehicles". Archived from the original on 2006-10-07. Retrieved 2006-10-03.