Engines - Pratt & Whitney

Pratt & Whitney's first engine was called the Wasp.

Completed on Christmas Eve of 1925, the Wasp was an air-cooled, radial piston engine with 1,340 cubic inches of displacement. It also featured a revolutionary design for the crankshaft and master rod, which eliminated what had proved to be a weak area in other engines. The new Wasp weighed less than 650 pounds.

The Wasp developed 425 horsepower on its third test run. It easily passed Navy qualification testing in March 1926, and by October of the same year, the Navy had ordered 200 engines. The Wasp demonstrated exceptional capabilities. It exhibited speed, rate of climb, performance at altitude and reliability that revolutionized American aviation, shattering one record after another. Soon it dominated Navy and Army Air Force fighter planes.

The Wasp also made its mark on early commercial aviation during the 1930s. Charles Lindbergh shattered the transcontinental speed record in 1930 with his Wasp-powered Lockheed Sirius. Jimmy Doolittle relied on his Wasp to take his Gee Bee aircraft to new speeds. And, Amelia Earhart made history with her Wasp-powered Lockheed Electra 10E.

(Wikipedia) - P & W R-1340 Wasp

Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp

aviation-history.com - P & W R-1340

This Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp was removed from the Fairchild 71 owned by Bob Reeve.

2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It is a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. The B model is rated at 575 hp.

(Wikipedia) - P & W R-1690 Hornet

Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet

aviation-history.com - P & W Hornet

2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It is a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. The B model is rated at 575 hp.

On black engine mount, oil pan, on pallet

The ‘TYPE’ of ‘R-1690-B’ on this engine data plate was hard to find. When you Google it, you almost always get redirected to the Pratt & ‘Whitney R-1860-B Hornet’. Two foreign language versions of the R-1690 page mention that the ‘R-1690-B’ variation puts out 575 hp (429 kW)

According to the Virtual Aircraft Museum, in 1930, in Finland, there were five VL Kotka (Eagle) open-cockpit biplane maritime patrol aircraft produced with an R-1690-B engine. The remains of one is on display at the Paijat-Hame Museum.

In 1931, the prototype for the Douglas T3D, a three place open-cockpit biplane torpedo bomber originally used an R-1690-B engine, but it was later replaced with a R-1830 engine. The T3D never made it into production.

There was one mention of a US government purchase in a Google scanned magazine:

U.S. Air Services - Volume 16 - Page 58 -June 1931

“Devoted to the Development of Aeronautics - Civil and Military - in the United States, Birthplace of the Flying Machine, and Throughout the World”

Contract awards were announced on May, 23 by the War Department:

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company, Hartford — Thirty Hornet type R-1690-B engines and spare parts; total, $174,591.39.

Smaller version of the Wasp

Used on: Beechcraft Model 18, Grumman Goose, Travelair 6000B DHC-2 Beaver, Stinson Reliant, Waco S3HD

The Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior is a series of nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engines built by the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company from the 1930s to the 1950s.

These engines have a displacement of 985 cu in (16 L); initial versions produced 300 hp (220 kW), while the most widely used versions produce 450 hp (340 kW).

Wasp Juniors have powered numerous smaller civil and military aircraft, including small transports, utility aircraft, trainers, agricultural aircraft, and helicopters. Over 39,000 of these engines were built, and many are still in service today.

(Wikipedia) - P & W R-985 Wasp Junior

More Wasp Junior details

The Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior is a series of nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engines built by the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company from the 1930s to the 1950s.

More Wasp Junior details

The Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior is a series of nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engines built by the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Note that the engines are not the exact same models. Left Engine - R-985-AN-1, Right Engine - R-985-AN-14B

More Wasp Junior details

The Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior is a series of nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engines built by the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Used on: Douglas DC-6

The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp is an American twin-row, 18-cylinder, air-cooled radial aircraft engine with a displacement of 2,800 cu in (46 L), and is part of the long-lived Wasp family.

The R-2800 is considered one of the premier radial piston engines ever designed and is notable for its widespread use in many important American aircraft during and after World War II. During the war years, Pratt & Whitney continued to develop new ideas to upgrade this already powerful workhorse, most notably water injection for takeoff in cargo and passenger planes and to give emergency power in combat.

(Wikipedia) - P & W R-2800 Double Wasp

Used on: Boeing 377, Boeing B-50 Superfortress, Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, Convair B-36, Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, Hughes H-4 Hercules ("Spruce Goose")

The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major is an American four-row, 28-cylinder four-row radial piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II, and the largest-displacement aviation piston engine to be mass-produced in the United States. It was the last of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp family, and the culmination of its maker's piston engine technology. The war was over before it could power airplanes into combat. It powered many of the last generation of large piston-engined aircraft before turbojets, and equivalent (and superior) horsepower turboprops (such as the Allison T56), supplanted it. Its main rival was the twin-row, 18-cylinder, nearly 3,350 cu in (54.9 l) displacement Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone, first run some seven years earlier (May 1937).

(Wikipedia) - P & W R-4360 Wasp Major

The Pratt & Whitney JT8D is a low-bypass (0.96 to 1) turbofan engine, introduced by Pratt & Whitney in February 1963 with the inaugural flight of the Boeing 727.

Used on: Boeing 737 Combi

(Wikipedia) - Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbo fan engine.