DePalma, V-4 Engine
date: label: Date
content: Circa 1918
name: label: Manufacturer
content: DePalma Manufacturing Company (Detroit, Michigan)
notes: label: Physical Description
content: Type: Reciprocating, 4 cylinders, V-type, air cooled
label: Physical Description
content: Power rating: 28-37 kW (38-50 hp)
label: Physical Description
content: Displacement: Unknown
label: Physical Description
content: Bore and Stroke: Unknown
label: Physical Description
content: Weight: Unknown
label: Summary
content: C.H. Willis, Henry Ford’s Chief Engineer, who also led the DePalma Manufacturing Company, worked with famous inventor and General Motors executive Charles F. Kettering to develop this engine under an Army contract for the Kettering Bug, a flying bomb. This predecessor for later cruise missiles used a two-cycle engine because of its high power-to-weight ratio, simplicity of construction, and low cost. With twice the explosions, a two-cycle engine can produce higher power than a four-cycle engine, but does not throttle well, which was not important for this application.
label: Summary
content: The Bug was to cost about $575 in large quantities, and have a range of fifty miles. Development of the aircraft was begun in 1918; but did not go into production because of largely unsuccessful flight tests in 1918 and 1919. The engine also powered Dayton-Wright aircraft such as the T-4 Messenger, another prototype aircraft that lost favor following World War I.
place: label: Country of Origin
content: United States of America
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Air and Space Museum Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transferred from the War Department, Air Corps, Materiel Division, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Air and Space Museum
identifier: label: Inventory Number
content: A19340009000
objectType: label: Type
content: PROPULSION-Reciprocating & Rotary
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Materials
content: Steel, Paint, Aluminum, Preservative coating
label: Dimensions
content: Depth 71.1 cm (28 in.), Length 87.6 cm (34.5 in.), Width 101.6 cm (40 in.)