The Sunbeam Crusader, originally known as the Sunbeam 150 hp, Sunbeam 110 hp or Sunbeam 100 hp (variations on the engine may also have been referred to as Sunbeam 120 hp or Sunbeam 135 hp), was an early British, side-valve, water-cooled, V-8 aero engine first marketed in 1913.

Design and development

The first aero-engine from Louis Coatalen was the 110 hp, a water-cooled V-8 with side-valve cylinders of 80mm (3.15 in) bore and 150mm (5.9 in) stroke. The later versions of the engine, which had 90mm (3.5 in) bore cylinders, were known as the 150 hp until the Sunbeam naming system labelled it the Crusader in 1917. The 80mm bore versions were produced in limited numbers, mostly for civil use, but later 90mm bore engines had limited success in civil applications, with more than 226 built for military aircraft. Production examples were rated at 150 hp (112 kW) at 2,000 rpm, had a bore of 90mm (3.5 in), stroke of 150mm (5.9 in), two valves per cylinder, and weighed 480 lb (220 kg) dry. The engine was used in a wide variety of British military aircraft during the first years of World War I, most notably the Short 827 seaplane for which six of the original versions were ordered followed by 107 of the more powerful type. Further development of the Crusader resulted in the Sunbeam Zulu and V-12 Sunbeam Mohawk and Sunbeam Gurkha. The Gurkha engine preserved at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Somerset, England, is the only surviving Sunbeam side-valve engine in the UK. It is installed in the Short 184, aircraft number 8359, that played a minor role in the Battle of Jutland at the end of May 1916. The pilot on that occasion was Flight Lieutenant Frederick Rutland (who was ever after known as "Rutland of Jutland"),

Variants

Applications

Data from:- Sunbeam Aero-Engines • Avro 510 • Avro 519 • Avro 523 Pike (Zulu) • Avro 527 • Blackburn GP • Coastal-class airship(Crusader and Zulu) • Curtiss H-4 • Curtiss R-2 • Maurice Farman Longhorn (Sunbeam 110hp) • Handley Page Type O - two ordered 28 December 1914, (1372 and 1373), but later cancelled. • Radley-England waterplane No.2 (Sunbeam 110hp) • Royal Aircraft Factory RE.5 • Short Type 184 (Gurkha) • Short Type 827 (Crusader and Zulu) • Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz • Sopwith Type 806 Gunbus (110hp) & (150hp) • Grigorovich MK-1 (third engine - replaced by a 140 hp Hispano-Suiza engine.

Specifications (150hp / Crusader)