Engine Hall

The most valuable exhibits include numerous powerplants from World War I, originating from all the major countries involved in the conflict — Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, the United States, and Italy. The collection also features engines manufactured in Poland before World War II, as well as an extensive collection of German, British, American, and Soviet engines from the World War II era, including rocket engines and the first turbojet powerplants used and produced in Poland, along with turbojet engines powering supersonic combat aircraft.

Examining the engines presented in this exhibition allows visitors to learn about their design configurations and cooling methods — inline, radial, liquid-cooled or air-cooled in the case of piston engines, and with axial or centrifugal compressors in the case of jet engines. By analysing their cross-sections, one can understand the principles of their operation.

At the entrance to the Engine Hall stand the oldest engines — from before World War I. The oldest among them is the Antoinette from 1908, positioned in the centre. It is an eight-cylinder V-type engine, water-cooled with evaporation on the cylinders and equipped with direct fuel injection, producing 65 HP. It was used in the Levavasseur Antoinette aircraft, whose fuselage is displayed in the “History Warehouses” exhibition. Beside it — to the left — stand engines from the early period of World War I. The first is the rotary Le Rhone C producing 80 HP, which powered French fighters from the early stages of World War I and training aircraft used in Poland until the outbreak of World War II. The rotary engine is the oldest type of radial engine, which rotates together with the propeller around a stationary crankshaft to enable centrifugal lubrication. Behind it stands the fuselage of the experimental high-altitude Albatros H.1, created as a modification of the World War I fighter Siemens-Schuckert D.IV. Its powerplant is the bi-rotary Siemens-Halske Sh III producing 160 HP, in which the crankcase with cylinders and propeller rotated in one direction while the crankshaft rotated in the opposite direction, in order to increase power by raising the number of combustion cycles.

Nearby stand two British air-cooled inline engines — the RAF 4a, a V-12 producing 150 HP, used in reconnaissance aircraft B.E.12, R.E.8, and R.E.7, and the more powerful RAF3. To the right of the Antoinette engine — along the wall — we see liquid-cooled inline engines. The first is the Austro-Daimler DM-200, which was used in Austrian Oeffag Albatros D.III fighters and Polish Bartel BM-5a training aircraft, used in Poland in the 1930s. Behind it stand engines used in German World War I aircraft, which after the war ended up in Polish aviation — the BMW IIIa from the Fokker D.VII, the best German fighter of World War I, and the Benz Bz IVd, used in DFW C.V and LVG C.V reconnaissance-bomber aircraft, which saw combat in the Polish-Bolshevik War. Next to the Benz engine stands the French Salmson 9Z radial engine, cooled by water — which is highly unusual for this type of powerplant, as radial engines are virtually always air-cooled. It was used in Salmson 2A2 reconnaissance-bomber aircraft, which arrived in Poland with the army of General Jozef Haller.

In the next row, the first engine is the Mercedes D.IIIa, one of the most important German World War I engines, used in Albatros D.V fighters. Behind it stands a cross-section of the enormous eight-cylinder Mercedes D.IVb producing 278 HP, used in Albatros C.V reconnaissance-bomber aircraft. Modified in the early 1920s, machines of this very type were the first air ambulance aircraft in Poland.

Further along stand V-12 engines: the American Liberty, designed at breakneck speed in 1917 and used in aircraft, boats, and tanks; and the French Renault 12FE, used in Breguet XIV reconnaissance-bombers, which were extensively used in Poland in the 1920s. Above these powerplants hangs a human-powered aircraft constructed by Mikolaj Surmanowicz in the 1970s, which despite the designer’s efforts never managed to take flight.

The first interwar engine is the British Rolls-Royce Eagle IX — a post-war version of the engine developed and produced in various variants during World War I, intended for passenger aircraft. Aviation, which had developed during that war, began finding commercial applications after 1918. The nearby French Lorraine Dietrich LD 400 was used in Potez XV and Potez XXVII reconnaissance-bomber aircraft, produced under licence in Poland in the 1920s and used until the 1930s. At the end of this row stands the Gnome-Rhone Jupiter 9Ab radial engine, manufactured in France under a British licence. It powered the French Farman F.68 Goliath bombers, used in Poland in the 1920s and 1930s.

At the beginning of the next row stands one of the most important engine types used in Polish aviation during the interwar period, also produced under licence at Polskie Zaklady Skody — the French Lorraine-Dietrich LD 450, also designated LD-12Eb. It is a 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engine producing 450 HP. Engines of this type were used in Breguet XIX and Potez XXV reconnaissance-bombers, SPAD 61C1 fighters, and Fokker F.VIIa/1m passenger aircraft. They also powered the first Polish-designed combat aircraft — the PWS-10 fighter and the CWL WZ-X reconnaissance-bomber, which never entered serial production. It was in a Breguet XIX powered by this very engine type that Boleslaw Orlinski completed a record-breaking flight on the Warsaw-Tokyo-Warsaw route in 1926. Further along stands the Armstrong Genet Major radial engine, which powered the RWD-6 aircraft in which Franciszek Zwirko and Stanislaw Wigura won the Challenge competition in 1932. Behind them stand the Soviet 12-cylinder V-type Mikulin M-34, used in TB-3 heavy bombers, and the British Rolls-Royce Kestrel, from a batch purchased by the Germans to power prototypes of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter and the Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber. In this way, the British helped the Germans create aircraft they would find themselves fighting against just a few years later.

Soviet combat aircraft used during World War II would certainly have had a much more difficult path to development had it not been for the licence for 12-cylinder inline Hispano-Suiza engines purchased by the USSR from France. The benchmark was the Hispano-Suiza 12Xbr, displayed in cross-section with its characteristic green crankcase. Next to it stands its improved licence-built version — the Klimov M-103 engine, used in Tupolev SB-2 bombers, which were employed in the attack on Poland in September 1939.

Nearby stand two more twin-row radial engines from World War II — the American Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclone, used in B-25 Mitchell bombers, A-20 Boston attack aircraft, and Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers; and the Soviet Shvetsov ASh-82FN, used in La-5 fighters, Tu-2 bombers, and after the war in Il-12 and Il-14 passenger aircraft. On the other side of the aisle stands the French Gnome Rhone 9 Mistral radial engine, and behind it the German 12-cylinder Argus As-410, used in Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu reconnaissance aircraft, which during the war were also stationed at the Krakow airfield.

By the pillar stands the Bramo 323 Fafnir radial engine, which powered Dornier Do 17Z bombers used in the opening phase of World War II for attacks on Poland, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. Behind it, among the smaller engines, stands a cross-section of the 4-cylinder Junior, produced in Poland under Czechoslovak licence and used in the most widely produced pre-war Polish aircraft — the RWD-8 trainer. Next to it stands a much smaller, two-cylinder German Koller Kroeber engine, which powered the Polish Bak motor glider, designed in the 1930s by Antoni Kocjan. From there, our gaze shifts to a significantly more powerful engine — the German Daimler Benz DB 600, the first in a family of engines used in Germany’s primary World War II fighters — the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

At the beginning of the next row stand radial engines manufactured by the British company Bristol. Its products were among the finest in their category worldwide and were produced under licence in many countries, including Poland. Licence-built “Bristols” powered all Polish combat aircraft used in the Defensive War of 1939.

First we see the Polish-built Pegaz II and Pegaz VIII engines, used in PZL.23 Karas reconnaissance-bomber aircraft. Further along stands the Alfa Romeo 126 RC 34 — a Pegasus manufactured in Italy — used in CANT Z.506 Airone flying boats, and beside it the original British Pegasus X and the Polish-built Pegaz XX, used in PZL.37 Los bombers and the prototype of the PZL.46 Sum reconnaissance-bomber, the successor to the aforementioned Karas. Behind it stands the German inverted-V Junkers Jumo 211, used in German Heinkel He 111, Junkers Ju 87, and Ju 88 bombers, which saw extensive service during World War II; and further along the Soviet Klimov VK-105PF, used in Yakovlev fighters and Petlyakov Pe-2 bombers.

Against the wall stands an aircraft from an entirely different era — the red Xenon 2 autogyro. The autogyro is the earliest type of rotorcraft, introduced into service in the 1920s. In an autogyro, thrust is produced by a pusher propeller, as in the example shown, or a tractor propeller, as in pre-war designs, while lift is generated by a main rotor driven by the oncoming airflow. Autogyros lack the ability to take off and land vertically or to hover like helicopters, which is why they never gained widespread popularity, disappeared for many years, and reappeared around a dozen years ago as ultralight aircraft — that is, with a maximum take-off weight of up to 450 kg — used mainly for recreational flying. The autogyro on display is powered by an Austrian Rotax 912 flat (boxer) engine, cooled by both liquid and air. It is currently the most popular engine used in light aircraft.

Along the opposite wall stand rocket engines. The long grey tube is the casing of the Argus As 014 pulsejet engine, which powered the German V1 flying bomb — essentially an unmanned aircraft, the Fieseler Fi 103. Beside it stand three components of the V2 ballistic rocket’s propulsion system — a steam generator, a fuel pump, and a rocket engine. The V1 and V2 were vengeance weapons used by the Germans towards the end of World War II to attack London and other Allied cities. Behind the V2 components stand two rocket engines designed by Hellmuth Walter — the HWK-109-507, used to power the Henschel Hs 293 guided glide bombs, and the HWK-109-501, used as an auxiliary engine for assisted take-off of heavy aircraft. Both engines operated on the principle of a chemical reaction between two fuel components, involving the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Next to them stand rocket engines from Soviet surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.

Opposite them stands the BMW 801D-2 radial engine, one of the most important German engines of World War II, used primarily in Focke-Wulf Fw 190A fighters and Junkers Ju 188 bombers. Behind it stands the American Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engine, which powered Douglas C-47 transport aircraft and Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters. On the other side of the pillar, one can see a cross-section of the German Junkers Jumo 205D opposed-piston diesel engine, with six cylinders containing two pistons each, driving two crankshafts. These engines were used in German Dornier Do 26 and Blohm und Voss Bv 138 flying boats, which patrolled the Atlantic in search of Allied convoys.

Next to it stands a cross-section of the 12-cylinder V-type Rolls-Royce Merlin — the principal British piston engine of World War II. The version on display, the Merlin XX, primarily powered Avro Lancaster Mark I bombers. Behind the Merlin stands the 24-cylinder French Hispano-Suiza in a very rare H configuration. The next engines are the Soviet Mikulin AM-35, which powered MiG-1 and MiG-3 fighters, and the AM-38, which powered the most mass-produced combat aircraft in history — the Il-2 Shturmovik. Beneath the tail of the Xenon autogyro stands the largest radial engine in the collection — the British Bristol Hercules 264, used in post-war transport aircraft. To its left is the only turboprop engine in the collection — the Soviet Ivchenko AI-24, used in An-24 passenger and An-26 transport aircraft, and behind it the Klimov RD-10A turbojet — a Soviet copy of the German Junkers Jumo 004 from World War II. The original German engine powered Messerschmitt 262 Schwalbe fighters, while the copy was used in the first Soviet jet fighters immediately after the war. Along the row of post-war piston engines, among which the seven-cylinder WN-3 radial — powering the TS-8 Bies and MD-12 aircraft — deserves particular attention, one proceeds to the Lis-2 and Lis-5 turbojet engines. These were Polish-built versions, produced under Soviet licence, of the Klimov VK-1 and VK-1F, which powered the Lim-2 and Lim-5 fighters — the licence-built MiG-15bis and MiG-17. The Soviet engines were in turn derived from the British Rolls-Royce Nene II, sold by Great Britain to the Soviet Union. Above them hangs the JK-1 Trzmiel helicopter, powered by ramjet engines mounted on the tips of its rotor blades. It was a failed experiment from the 1950s — such a helicopter never flew, and during trials of one of the prototypes, a test pilot was killed.

On the right side stand engines that powered supersonic combat aircraft. Among them are the Soviet Mikulin RD-9 from the MiG-19 fighter, the Mikulin R-11F-300 and R-13F-300 from MiG-21 fighters, the Lyulka AL-7 and AL-21 from Su-7, Su-20, and Su-22 fighter-bombers, the American General Electric J79 from the F-104 Starfighter, and the French SNECMA Atar 9 from Mirage III and Mirage V fighters. Along the wall on the other side stands a cross-section of the TS-11 Iskra fuselage and the engines associated with it — the SO-1 and SO-3W used in the Iskra, the K-15 and K-16 derived from them and intended for the Iskra’s successor, the Iryda, as well as the British Bristol Viper, on which the first Iskra prototype made its maiden flight. Heading towards the exit, we pass the rocket-assisted take-off boosters standing by the door, which were used to assist the take-off of heavily loaded aircraft.