page_title: Liberty L-12
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Liberty L-12 / Production
caption_attribution_description: Major Henry H. Arnold with first Liberty V12 engine completed
context_page_description: The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing 1,649 cubic inches and making 400 hp designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both in racing and gentlemens' runabouts.
  A single bank 6-cylinder version, the Liberty L-6, and V-8, the Liberty L-8, were derived from the Liberty L-12. It was succeeded by the Packard 1A-2500.
context_section_description: In the fall of 1917, the War Department placed an order for 22,500 Liberty engines, dividing the contract among the automobile and engine manufacturers Buick, Ford, Cadillac, Lincoln, Marmon, and Packard. Hall-Scott in California was considered too small to receive a production order. Manufacturing by multiple factories was facilitated by its modular design.
  Ford was asked to supply cylinders for the new engine and rapidly developed an improved technique for cutting and pressing steel, which resulted in cylinder production rising from 151 per day to over 2,000; the company eventually manufactured all 433,826 cylinders produced, as well as 3,950 complete engines. Lincoln constructed a new plant in record time, devoted entirely to Liberty engine production, and assembled 2,000 engines in 12 months. By the time of the Armistice with Germany, the various companies had produced 13,574 Liberty engines, attaining a production rate of 150 engines per day. Production continued after the war, for a total of 20,478 engines built between July 4, 1917 and 1919.
  Although it is widely reported otherwise, a few Liberty engines did see action in France as power for the American version of the British Airco DH.4.
caption: Major Henry H. "Hap" Arnold with the first Liberty V12 engine completed
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