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3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Lycoming Engines? Wrong! If the Lycoming Engines is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
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8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Lycoming Engines site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Lycoming Engines, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Lycoming Engines, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
Lycoming Engines is a major
aircraft engine company, known primarily for its smaller general aviation
engines. For most of its history Lycoming has been part of the
Avco as
AVCO Lycoming. In 1987 AVCO was purchased by
Textron to become
Textron Lycoming. In 2002 the company was renamed
Lycoming Engines. http://www.lycoming.textron.com/company/our-history.jsp
History
Lycoming first set up business in 1888 in
Williamsport, Pennsylvania (in Lycoming County, thus the name) as a
sewing machine manufacturer, and soon branched out into bicycle manufacturing as well. Through the early post-
World War I era the company increasingly focused on automobile engines, and at one time became a major supplier for Auburn, which produced the Auburn Automobile,
Cord Automobile, and
Duesenberg lines. Eventually Lycoming became their major supplier, and in
1929 in aviation Errett Lobban Cord bought the company, placing it under his Auburn Manufacturing umbrella group. Also in 1929 Lycoming produced its first aviation engine, the radial engine
Lycoming R-680. This was a fairly successful design, and was used widely in light aircraft, including Cord's Travel Air.
Through the
1930s Lycoming made a number of efforts to break into the "big league" with high-power engine designs. The 1200 Horsepower
Lycoming O-1230 was its attempt to produce an engine based on the
USAAC's hyper engine concept, which used a variety of features to produce one
horsepower per cubic inch (46 kW/L) of engine displacement. However the O-1230 took so long to reach service that it had been bypassed by other designs and the US dollar500,000 (over US$6 million in year 2000) investment was not recouped. Another attempt was made to rescue the design by stacking two O-1230s to make the 2300 hp (1,700 kW)
H engine Lycoming H-2470, but the only design to use it, the XP-54 Swoose Goose, never entered production.
Not to be stopped by the O-1230/H-2470's failure, they turned to an even larger design, the
Lycoming R-7755, the largest aviation
piston engine ever built. However this design ran into problems, and was only ready for use at the very end of World War II, when the aviation world was turning to
jet engines for power on future large designs. There was apparently some interest in using it on the Convair B-36
bomber, but the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 was used instead.
In 1939 in aviation Cord re-organized all of his aviation holdings into the AVCO group, at which point the engine manufacturing company became "AVCO Lycoming". They also leased a government-owned plant in Stratford, Connecticut and produced Curtiss-Wright
radial engines under license. After the war this plant was converted to produce the
Lycoming T53 turboshaft engine, one of their more successful designs. From this point on the piston and
turbine engine lines remained separate, with the piston lines being built in the original Williamsport factories, and turbines in Stratford.
Their most successful post-war products were a series of flat-4 and flat-6 (cylinders) air-cooled general aviation engines. Most famous among these are the
Lycoming O-235 and
Lycoming O-360 fours, and the
Lycoming O-540 six. The majority of light aircraft today are powered by a version of these engines, covering everything from the 100 to 360 hp (75 to 270 kW) range. Other engines in the series include the basic Lycoming O-320 four,
Lycoming O-580 six and Lycoming O-720 eight, and the advanced Lycoming TIGO-541 which delivered 450 hp (340 kW) from an engine the same size as the O-540.
In the early 1980s the bottom dropped out of the general aviation market, and Lycoming's piston engine business suddenly disappeared. Attempts were made to move some of the turbine production to Williamsport, but this led to a series of
quality control problems and eventually the attempt was abandoned.
Another attempt to rescue Williamsport was made in an attempt to introduce the "radical"
SCORE engine, a
Wankel engine originally developed in a partnership between
Curtiss-Wright and John Deere. Curtiss-Wright lost interest in the design just as it was maturing and sold it to John Deere, who brought in Lycoming to sell into the aviation markets. They were guaranteed a startup run by Cessna, also owned by Textron. Just as production was ready to start Cessna announced they were exiting the small-aircraft business, and SCORE was cancelled. The remains of the John Deere licenses were later purchased by Rotary Power International, who produced a 340hp version for a short time.
Textron purchase
Textron purchased the company in
1986 in aviation. Textron sold the turbine division to
AlliedSignal in
1996 in aviation.
Engines
- Lycoming R-680, 9-cylinder radial, 220 to 295 hp, Lycoming's first engine
- Lycoming O-145, 2-cylinder
- Lycoming O-235, 4-cylinder, 108 to 118 hp, introduced in 1940 and still produced, widely used on the Cessna 152 and similar GA designs
- Lycoming O-290, 4-cylinder, 125 hp, downsized version of the 435 introduced in 1942 and largely ignored for aviation use, but widely used in ground-power carts sold to the US military
- Lycoming O-320, 4-cylinder, 150 to 160 hp
- Lycoming O-340, 4-cylinder
- Lycoming O-360, 4-cylinder, introduced in 1955 and widely used ever since, formed the basis for the 540 and 720
- Lycoming O-390, 4-cylinder, introduced in 2002, a smaller version of the new 580
- Lycoming O-435, 6-cylinder, 185 to 260 hp, also developed as a tank engine
- Lycoming O-480, 6-cylinder
- Lycoming O-540, 6-cylinder, 260 to 315 hp, widely used on the Piper PA-31 Navajo, Piper PA-24 Comanche, etc.
- Lycoming O-541, 6-cylinder, improved 540, featuring turbocharging on all models
- Lycoming O-580, 6-cylinder, 330 hp, aerobatic engine introduced in 1998
- Lycoming O-580, 8-cylinder, original "580", produced from 1948 to 1961
- Lycoming O-720, 8-cylinder, basically a scaled up version of the 360/540
- Lycoming T53, turboshaft, 600 hp, used on the Bell UH-1 "Huey" and others
- Lycoming T55, turboshaft, 3,750 hp, used on the CH-47 Chinook
- Lycoming ALF 502, turbofan, based on the T55 turboshaft, used on the BAe 146
References
External links
- Textron Lycoming - Official Homepage
- Lycoming engines - an extensive list of every version of Lycoming's general aviation engines
- Lycoming - lists all major engine series
Lycoming Engines is a major aircraft engine company, known primarily for its smaller
general aviation engines. For most of its history Lycoming has been part of the
Avco as
AVCO Lycoming. In 1987 AVCO was purchased by
Textron to become
Textron Lycoming. In 2002 the company was renamed
Lycoming Engines. http://www.lycoming.textron.com/company/our-history.jsp
History
Lycoming first set up business in 1888 in
Williamsport, Pennsylvania (in Lycoming County, thus the name) as a
sewing machine manufacturer, and soon branched out into bicycle manufacturing as well. Through the early post-
World War I era the company increasingly focused on
automobile engines, and at one time became a major supplier for Auburn, which produced the Auburn Automobile, Cord Automobile, and
Duesenberg lines. Eventually Lycoming became their major supplier, and in
1929 in aviation Errett Lobban Cord bought the company, placing it under his Auburn Manufacturing umbrella group. Also in 1929 Lycoming produced its first aviation engine, the
radial engine Lycoming R-680. This was a fairly successful design, and was used widely in light
aircraft, including Cord's Travel Air.
Through the 1930s Lycoming made a number of efforts to break into the "big league" with high-power engine designs. The 1200
Horsepower Lycoming O-1230 was its attempt to produce an engine based on the USAAC's hyper engine concept, which used a variety of features to produce one horsepower per
cubic inch (46 kW/L) of
engine displacement. However the O-1230 took so long to reach service that it had been bypassed by other designs and the US dollar500,000 (over US$6 million in year 2000) investment was not recouped. Another attempt was made to rescue the design by stacking two O-1230s to make the 2300 hp (1,700 kW) H engine
Lycoming H-2470, but the only design to use it, the
XP-54 Swoose Goose, never entered production.
Not to be stopped by the O-1230/H-2470's failure, they turned to an even larger design, the Lycoming R-7755, the largest aviation
piston engine ever built. However this design ran into problems, and was only ready for use at the very end of
World War II, when the aviation world was turning to
jet engines for power on future large designs. There was apparently some interest in using it on the Convair B-36 bomber, but the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 was used instead.
In
1939 in aviation Cord re-organized all of his aviation holdings into the AVCO group, at which point the engine manufacturing company became "AVCO Lycoming". They also leased a government-owned plant in
Stratford, Connecticut and produced Curtiss-Wright radial engines under license. After the war this plant was converted to produce the
Lycoming T53 turboshaft engine, one of their more successful designs. From this point on the piston and
turbine engine lines remained separate, with the piston lines being built in the original Williamsport factories, and turbines in Stratford.
Their most successful post-war products were a series of
flat-4 and
flat-6 (cylinders) air-cooled general aviation engines. Most famous among these are the Lycoming O-235 and
Lycoming O-360 fours, and the Lycoming O-540 six. The majority of light aircraft today are powered by a version of these engines, covering everything from the 100 to 360 hp (75 to 270 kW) range. Other engines in the series include the basic
Lycoming O-320 four, Lycoming O-580 six and Lycoming O-720 eight, and the advanced Lycoming TIGO-541 which delivered 450 hp (340 kW) from an engine the same size as the O-540.
In the early
1980s the bottom dropped out of the general aviation market, and Lycoming's piston engine business suddenly disappeared. Attempts were made to move some of the turbine production to Williamsport, but this led to a series of
quality control problems and eventually the attempt was abandoned.
Another attempt to rescue Williamsport was made in an attempt to introduce the "radical"
SCORE engine, a
Wankel engine originally developed in a partnership between Curtiss-Wright and John Deere. Curtiss-Wright lost interest in the design just as it was maturing and sold it to John Deere, who brought in Lycoming to sell into the aviation markets. They were guaranteed a startup run by Cessna, also owned by Textron. Just as production was ready to start Cessna announced they were exiting the small-aircraft business, and SCORE was cancelled. The remains of the John Deere licenses were later purchased by
Rotary Power International, who produced a 340hp version for a short time.
Textron purchase
Textron purchased the company in
1986 in aviation. Textron sold the turbine division to AlliedSignal in 1996 in aviation.
Engines
- Lycoming R-680, 9-cylinder radial, 220 to 295 hp, Lycoming's first engine
- Lycoming O-145, 2-cylinder
- Lycoming O-235, 4-cylinder, 108 to 118 hp, introduced in 1940 and still produced, widely used on the Cessna 152 and similar GA designs
- Lycoming O-290, 4-cylinder, 125 hp, downsized version of the 435 introduced in 1942 and largely ignored for aviation use, but widely used in ground-power carts sold to the US military
- Lycoming O-320, 4-cylinder, 150 to 160 hp
- Lycoming O-340, 4-cylinder
- Lycoming O-360, 4-cylinder, introduced in 1955 and widely used ever since, formed the basis for the 540 and 720
- Lycoming O-390, 4-cylinder, introduced in 2002, a smaller version of the new 580
- Lycoming O-435, 6-cylinder, 185 to 260 hp, also developed as a tank engine
- Lycoming O-480, 6-cylinder
- Lycoming O-540, 6-cylinder, 260 to 315 hp, widely used on the Piper PA-31 Navajo, Piper PA-24 Comanche, etc.
- Lycoming O-541, 6-cylinder, improved 540, featuring turbocharging on all models
- Lycoming O-580, 6-cylinder, 330 hp, aerobatic engine introduced in 1998
- Lycoming O-580, 8-cylinder, original "580", produced from 1948 to 1961
- Lycoming O-720, 8-cylinder, basically a scaled up version of the 360/540
- Lycoming T53, turboshaft, 600 hp, used on the Bell UH-1 "Huey" and others
- Lycoming T55, turboshaft, 3,750 hp, used on the CH-47 Chinook
- Lycoming ALF 502, turbofan, based on the T55 turboshaft, used on the BAe 146
References
External links
- Textron Lycoming - Official Homepage
- Lycoming engines - an extensive list of every version of Lycoming's general aviation engines
- Lycoming - lists all major engine series