Liberty V12 Aircraft and Marine Engines

On May 29th, 1917 Jesse G. Vincent, Vice-President of Engineering with the Packard Motor Car Company, and Elbert J. Hall, founder of the Hall-Scott Motor Car Company (see www.hallscottengines.com), sat down in Washington at the request of the Aircraft Production Board of the U.S. Military - which had just entered WWI - and designed what was to be on of the most advanced and successful engine designs ever; the Liberty V12. The concept of the Council of Mational defence was to create a standardized, modular aircraft engine design, which could then be built as Inline 4, Inline 6, V-8 or V-12 configuration, in high volume by multiple manufacturers for the war effort. The design included the best features from engines designed by Packard, Hall-Scott, as well as other industry leaders such as Rolls-Royce and Daimler (Mercedes). By June prototypes were being built and by July 25th the first V8 engine was running on a test bench. By the end of August 1917 the first V12 engines was running in bench testing, and named the "Liberty" Engine. The early engines produced over 400 horsepower, well above comparable engines at the time. by the time WWI ended on November 11th, 1918 over 4000 engines had been built to the liberty design, by Packard, Lincoln, Ford, General Motors (Buick and Cadillac), Nordyke & Marmon and Trego. By the end of 1918 the production total was over 20,000. These were used for aircraft, and tanks. These engines were later also built by British and Russian companies. The engine was used in British Nuffield tanks until 1942 when the next generation of V12 aircraft engines were adapted for tank production. After WW1 surplus Liverty V12 military engines were sold and subsequently converted for marine use by C.C.Smith Boat & Engine Company, Grant Marine Motor Co., Capital (Detroit Marine Garage & Auto Engine Works), Lee Motor Co., Detroit Marine-Aero Engine Co., Gar Wood Inc., Globe, Johnson Motor Products Inc., Lyon-Tuttle Corporation, Vimalert Co. Marine conversions were also built from Wright Liberty 6B aircraft engines, also built to the modular Liberty design. In the late teens and early 1920's, the fastest boats in the world were powered by Liberty V12 engines including Miss Detroit III winner of the 1918 and 1919 Gold Cup races at Detroit, Gar Junior, Miss America, Miss America II, Baby Gar, Miss Detroit IV, Miss Detroit V, Gar Jr. II, and Heldena II. Heldena II was the fastest boat in Canada (and maybe the world) in 1919-1920. A painting of Heldena II at speed is attached. More information about Heldena II is available at www.flc-acbs.org/heldenapage-1.htm Marine conversions were also made from the more rare Liberty design engines. Liberty design V-8 engine model L-8 BX-15, was converted for marine use in "Liberty thee Second". A pair of Miller-Liberty W-24 engines built with three banks of 8 cylinders, were used in Miss Los Angeles II, which competed in the Harmsworth Trophy races. Boats were also built around the X configuration prototype engine and an AL-24 design which used four banks of six cylinders for a fan 24 cylinder configuration.

With the increased interest in antique woooden race boats in the past decade, many Liberty engines have been restored. Now that original parts supplies have all but dried up, Rocky Shores has been manufacturing parts such as intake and exhaust valves for use in Liberty engines. These valves are made in America to the highest quality standards, from stainless steel forgings, ground on all surfaces, and hard coated. Seating surfaces receive a final grinding after hardcoating to ensure highest accuracy. Contact Andrew at 1-519-888-0089 or 1-226-929-3364 if you are in need of valves or other parts for Liberty engines.