Why was the Lorraine Dietrich Sterna.

[Hardrada55]

Why was the Lorraine Dietrich Sterna not used to a greater extent by aircraft manufacturers leading up to World War 2? They advertised it with 1200 hp for take off and 900hp @ 2800rpm at 4000m in 1938. I'm reading about incipient fuel injection and two stage supercharging.

 

[Shortround6]

There is not really enough to go on in English language sources. They may have been promising more than they could deliver at a wild guess. Some post war french engines (rated on 100/130 fuel) never were rated at the same power the pre-war advertisements/press releases claimed on lower octane fuel.
The 1938 Janes says it only weighed 1110lbs which is astonishingly low for a 1250hp engine (take-off) at 3000rpm which could also make 1100hp at 4000 meters. Janes could very well be wrong or have misprints.

 

[Bretoal2]

Shortround is right : it is likely that Jane's mixed several sources and datas for weight, power, etc.. In practice, the Sterna never exceeded 900 hp.

However, it had several interesting features as the 4 valves per cylinder, unlike the competitor Hispano-Suiza 12 Y. But its supercharger was out of date.

The Lorraine company was dying in 1936 and was definitively killed by the nationalizations. Its Technical director, Claude Bornier, worked essentially on carburation and exhaust gas analysis.

Regards, Alain

 

[Aurum]

There were three V12 engines of Lorraine-Dietrich presented on XV Paris exhibition.
They were Petrel 12-Hfrs (720 nominal h.p.), Sterna 12-R00 (810 nominal h.p.) & Eider 12-Q00 (1000 nominal h.p.). Here is the table with their general data from Russian book regarding that exhibition.
But remember that these data is for 1936 year

 

[fastmongrel]

There were three V12 engines of Lorraine-Dietrich presented on XV Paris exhibition.
They were Petrel 12-Hfrs (720 nominal h.p.), Sterna 12-R00 (810 nominal h.p.) & Eider 12-Q00 (1000 nominal h.p.). Here is the table with their general data from Russian book regarding that exhibition.
But remember that these data is for 1936 year

Any chance someone can translate the first page. I can guess some of it but it would be interesting to read it all.

 

[tomo pauk]

Any chance someone can translate the first page. I can guess some of it but it would be interesting to read it all.

My take:

 

[fastmongrel]

Thanks Tomo

 

[Hardrada55]

Shortround is right : it is likely that Jane's mixed several sources and datas for weight, power, etc.. In practice, the Sterna never exceeded 900 hp.

However, it had several interesting features as the 4 valves per cylinder, unlike the competitor Hispano-Suiza 12 Y. But its supercharger was out of date.

The Lorraine company was dying in 1936 and was definitively killed by the nationalizations. Its Technical director, Claude Bornier, worked essentially on carburation and exhaust gas analysis.

Regards, Alain

 

[Bretoal2]

All datas are commercial data, these engines never were type-tested !