Blackburne_Tomtit Knowpia

Tomtit
	The Shuttleworth Collection's Tomtit seen from the output (propeller) side. Valve pushrods can be glimpsed behind cylinder heads.
Type	Air-cooled V-twin
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Burney and Blackburne, Ltd., Bookham, Surrey
First run	c.1922

The Blackburne Tomtit was a 670 cc V-twin aero engine for light aircraft that was designed and produced by Burney and Blackburne Limited. Burney and Blackburne was based at Bookham, Surrey, England and was a former motorcycle manufacturer.

Design and development edit

The Blackburne Tomtit engine was developed from Blackburne's motorcycle engines.^[1] The first one adapted to aircraft use was the best performing engine at the Lympne light aircraft trials of 1923, despite its lack of refinement. The Tomtit was a modified version of the Lympne 696 cc V-twin, marketed specifically for flight.

The Tomtit could run upright or inverted and was the first British engine to fly inverted, in the ANEC I. The inverted configuration was more common, but the Avro 558 used it in the upright arrangement,^[2] and the Avro 560 flew with both upright and inverted Tomtits.^[3]

Applications (including early Lympne 1923 version) edit

ANEC I

Avro 558

Avro 560

BICh-3^[4] (the world's first flying wing)

Dabrowski D.1 Cykacz

Darmstadt D-11 Mohamed^[5]

de Havilland Humming Bird

Reid biplane^[6]

Short Cockle^[7]

Wheeler Slymph^[8]

Specifications edit

Data from Flight^[1]

General characteristics

Type: V-twin four-stroke piston engine
Bore: 71 mm (2.80 in)
Stroke: 88 mm (3.46 in)
Displacement: 696 cc (42.5 cu in)
Dry weight: 34 kg (75 lb)

Performance

Power output: 16 hp (12 kW) at 2,400 rpm
Specific fuel consumption: 0.58 pint (0.33 litre) per hp per hour
Oil consumption: 0.035 pint (0.02 litre) per hp per hour

References edit

Notes edit

^ ^a ^b Flight 1924, pp. 338
^ Jackson 1965, pp. 212
^ Jackson 1965, pp. 215
^ Cheranovsky, B. I. (6 April 1998). "BICh-3". Russian Aviation Museum. Archived from the original on 7 December 2012.
^ Flight 1925, pp. 371
^ Flight 1925, pp. 79–80
^ Jackson 1960, pp. 423
^ Jackson 1960, pp. 463

Bibliography edit

"Light 'Plane Engines", Flight (29 May 1924): 581, archived from the original on 15 October 2012, retrieved 11 June 2009
"Light 'Plane and Glider Notes", Flight (12 February 1925): 581, archived from the original on 29 September 2012, retrieved 12 June 2009
"Darmstadt", Flight (18 June 1925): 371, archived from the original on 15 October 2012, retrieved 12 June 2009
Jackson, A.J. (1965), Avro Aircraft since 1908, London: Putnam Publishing
Jackson, A.J. (1960), British Civil Aircraft 1919-59, vol. 2, London: Putnam Publishing