The name of Lorraine, or Societé Lorraine, is associated with the "Anciens Etablissements De Dietrich et Cie" of Luneville.

“Lorraine-Dietrich logo”

-De-Dietrich was known since 1898 for the manufacturing of automobiles, under license from well-known brands such as Amedée Bollé, Vivinus, Turcat-Mery and Delaunay-Belleville.

“Marius Barberou”

-Engineer Marius Barberou was in charge of most of these projects. In 1914 he changed over to the aviation section from the first day, moving the engine production to Argenteuil (Val-de-l'Oise). Since 1907 they were also producing automobiles that already became known as Lorraine-Dietrich.

"AML photo"

-The first aviation engine manufactured by Marius Barberou was a 110 CV, in-line engine, between the years 1914 and 1915. It was homologated at the Official Center of Chalais-Meudon, in the Yvelines, near Paris.

-It was known as AML, or Aviation-Military-Lorraine and of which about 200 were manufactured, mounted mainly on the Farman 40. In Italy, Isotta-Fraschini manufactured them as V-6s.

“AML schematic drawing”

-In the engine stock warehouse at the MAE museum in Paris there is an AML, as cutaway for teaching purposes.

“Lorraine-Dietrich AML, at the MAE”

-It was quickly overtaken by other engines, especially the Hispano Suiza V-8.

-For this reason, the next engine was a V-8 at 90° giving 150 CV at 1,500 rpm. Displacing almost 13 liters.

“V-8”

-It was 8Aa. The next variant was the 8Aby with 170 CV. The 8Ba of 220 CV at 1,650 rpm.

“V8, 8Ba”

-The 8Bb gave 240 CV at 1,700 rpm.

-The 8Bd and Be gave 275 CV and the 8Fb delivered 220 CV.

-In principle the Lorraine-Dietrich were known (like Hispano-Suiza) as Type 13, Type 14, Type 15, Type 17, Type 16, etc. As well as 8Bd, 12Dc, etc.

-For example, Type 13 was a 415 CV, 12-cylinder engine with the V at 60°. (therefore a 12D-).

-Type 14 was an engine with cylinders in W, that is a 12E-. Type 15 was another W-engine.

“8Bb”

“Lorraine de 250 CV, 8V"

“Lorraine 8V, 250 CV, with fairing”

-We see this engine installed on an airplane and with a fairing around the cylinder blocks.

“Lorraine 8V, with fairing and radiator”

"The 8V with fairing and radiator, from behind"

-In 1916 a 12V at 60° appeared, which was a derivative of the V8. It gave 370 CV at 1,650 rpm with almost 25 liters of displacement.

“Lorraine-Dietrich 12D”

-The 12Da variant from 1917 reached 400 CV. As we could see, the 12D had the magnetos and the starter distributor for compressed air at the front, apparently, because from the oblique cuts in the exhaust pipes we see that this engine is a pusher.

“12Da”

-Continuing with the equivalence of engines, Type 16 was an eight-cylinder in V, therefore an 8B-.

-Type 17 was an improved Type 13, giving 400 CV. Type 18 is another V12 or 12D-.

-Summarizing, the V8 engines were the B series. The V12 were the D series, the W-engines E and later they were the F and K series.

“V12 schematic drawing”

-The 12Da carry the mentioned accessories from the D at the rear.

-The 12V, 12Db model gave 400 CV, while the 12Dc only reached 370 CV.

“Lorraine-Dietrich, 12Db”

“12Dc”

-Below we see an example of a Type 13, equivalent to a 12D-.

“Lorraine-Dietrich, Type 13”

-Little known is the 500 CV V12 engine with a very large crankcase and whose application is unknown.

-The same happens with a little-known 500 CV W-engine, which we also illustrate.

“12 en V”

“12 en W”

-Around 1922 the W-engine E series appear, perhaps the most representative being the 12 Eb and Ebr with 450 CV. They had three banks of 4 cylinders.

-This engine would be built in many countries and among them, the most significant manufacturer for us was Elizalde in Barcelona, who made them under license in Spain.

-They were also made in Italy, Argentina, Japan, Romania and Poland.

“Lorraine W12, 450 CV”

-What catches our attention is the upright central block and in its front the air distributor for compressed-air starting. Something that is turning out to be very French.

“12Eb, schematic drawing”

“W12E photo”

“12Eb”

“12Edr”

-This engine was built in other variants like 12Ed, 12Ebr, and 12 Edr.

-In the last two shown images we see the 12Eb with direct output for the propeller and the 12Edr, with gearbox.

“12Edr with another gearbox at the MAE”

“Lorraine-Dietrich W-engine, rear details”

-The natural evolution of Lorraine's W18 engines is in the 1920's. (K series).

-It was water cooled and gave 650 CV. It had 6 carburetors, three at each side.

“Lorraine 18-cylinder W-engine”

-In 1923, a 24-cylinder W-engine that gave 1000 CV was presented at the Paris Aeronautical Show. It consisted of two coupled 450 CV,12Eb engines, with gearbox and volumetric compressor.

-It was an amazing engine, however it did not receive any order.

“24 W”

“Two Lorraine ads”

-As we have seen, "Dietrich" was often omitted, being simply identified as "Lorraine".

-Also in 1923, the first air-cooled radial engine was introduced. It had 7 cylinders and gave 230 CV at 1,500 rpm.

-It was the 7Ma and Mb, derived from the Armstrong Siddeley Lynx, in the 220/240 CV range.

“230 CV, 7Ma”

-The 7 Me models from 1928 and the 7 Mer from 1932 were baptized with the name "Mizar". We can see that the magnetos are not at the front.

“7 Mer, Mizar”

-The next engine to be put on the boards was the 14Ac, known as "Antarés", an air-cooled, 14-cylinder radial engine that delivered 470 CV at 1,800 rpm.

“Antarés, 14Ac”

-The 5-cylinder radial engines were designated with the letter P, for example: 5Pa, with 95 CV at 1,400 rpm, the 5Pb with 110 CV at 1,500 rpm and the 5Pc with 130 CV at 1,700 rpm.

“5Pa”

-The 5Pa was to be manufactured under license by Elizalde in Barcelona as the “A6” model (perhaps the Tiger A-VI?).

The latter is not confirmed. Anyway, the 5Pa was known as "Lorraine Ecole".

At the MAE engine stock warehouse, there is a Lorraine 5-cylinder radial engine still pending restoration with a certain amount of rust. Possibly it is a 5 Pa "Ecole".

“Lorraine 5 Pa”

-Some accessories are at the front of the engine.

“Lorraine Ecole, 5Pa”

“Lorraine 5Pa schematic drawing, rear view”

-Following the brand's progress, in 1927 the “Courlis” engine, model 12F (Fdr, etc) comes out. It was a 12-cylinder, water-cooled W-engine that gave 600 CV at 2,000 rpm.

-It had a minor variant as the "Courlis-Junior" that gave 500 CV, also with twelve cylinders in W, but with its revolutions reduced to 1,900 rpm.

“Lorraine Courlis”

“Another view of the Courlis”

-Meanwhile the 18W engines were also evolving.

-The 18Ka and 18Kd were from 1927 and gave 650 CV. They had 18 cylinders in three rows of 6 cylinders each.

“18Ka, front part”

“18Ka, rear part”

“Another view of the W24, rear part”

-The 9A, B, C and D radial engines would provide the basis for the Algol, 9N and Na series, in Junior, Major and Amelioré versions.

“9Na, Algol”

“Algol Major 9”

-The Algol Major 9 gave 450 CV at 2,100 rpm without compressor.

-The radial engines also advanced, the 9-cylinder is from 1929. The 9Na was baptized as "Algol", and it gave 310 CV.

-Two years later the improved Algol is launched, giving 470 CV.

“Algol-Améliorè”

-Another radial engine made by coupling two 7-cylinder engines was the 14L "Antarès". It was a development of the 14 Ac that was mentioned earlier. It gave 500 CV.

“14L Antarés”

-Returning to the W-formula, in 1929 the "Orion", 18Ga came out. This engine gave 800/1,000 CV at 2,150 rpm and had 40 liters of displacement.

“18 Gad, Orión”

-It was intended -together with the 24W engine- to be mounted on airships but at least the "Orion" remained experimental.

In 1930, Lorraine shows the “Radium, 12Rcr model for the Schneider Trophy. This engine was a supercharged, inverted, 12-cylinder V-engine that gave 2,200 CV at 3,900 rpm and had nearly 30 liters of displacement.

“Radium”

-In this engine we can see the large mechanical supercharger. The Illustration is obtained from the aeronautical newspaper "Les Ailes", and from a visit made by the journalist to the Rateau factory where the engine for the Trophy was being prepared. This trophy, by the way, was not very valuable in itself but the different nations involved their prestige.

"Schneider Trophy -without base-"

-The "Radium" was intended for the Nieuport Delage 61 and the Bernard HV-220 aircraft. The engine did not reach the scheduled performances and the program was canceled. Later it was learned that it was a gasoline problem, only 87 octanes.

-The next interesting engine of the brand is the "Petrel", which they started to build in 1930. It gave 500 CV.

“Petrel, 500 CV”

-With the supercharged and geared 12Hars model it reached 700 CV at 3,000 rpm.

“Another view of the Lorraine Petrel”

-In the year 1933 the 12 Hars Petrel reached 815 CV at 3,500 meters of altitude. It was the Hfrs/grs variant, and was installed on the Potez 542 test aircraft.

“Petrel 12 Hars”

“Petrel front and rear view”

-Finally another Petrel, really nice, like in previous versions.

“Another Petrel”

-In 1932, Lorraine carried out tests with engines running on Diesel.

-Therefore they used a 9-cylinder engine that gave 250 CV at 1,500 rpm, with compression at a ratio of 15 to 1.

-And as we have returned to the radial engines there were some 18-cylinder engines with double rows, such as the 18F.0 and the 18F.00 with 100 and 1,200 CV. They were announced but failed to be approved. (The same as the “Taurus” water-cooled, 12-cylinder, V-engine that gave 1,600 CV in 1937).

-The "Sirius" was an 18F.00 with slight variations, compact and geared. It was led by engineer Carol, successor to Barberou at Lorraine.

“Lorraine Diesel”

“Lorraine Sirius”

-And then a new view of the Lorraine Sirius.

“Lorraine 18 FO, Sirius”

-The Sirius with compressor reached 1,200 CV at 2,300 rpm and 4,000 meters of altitude. Compressor with a rate of 9.1/1.

-In 1936 another V-12 engine appeared, the "Eider", known as the 12Qo, with 990 CV.

“Lorraine Eider”

-Below a better view of the Eider.

“Lorraine-Dietrich Eider”

-Lorraine-Dietrich happened to belong to the SGA (General Aeronautical Society) groups, which included manufacturers of aircraft structures and cells in order to secure orders against competitors.

“Sterna ad”

-Finally in 1937 the French state founded the SNCM (National Society for the Construction of Engines), thus remaining nationalized.

-But before WWII, in 1938, another V12 engine came out, the "Sterna", model 12R. giving 1,000 CV and slightly larger than the Petrel. There was a version with remote transmission to a gear box where the output was divided into two coaxial and contra-rotating propellers. It was mounted on the Dutch Koolhoven F35 plane.

“Sterna 12Rs”

-Or the "Sterna" 12Rs, with overlapping gears.

-From the Sterna engine, variants known as Type 1, 2, 3, etc. were made.

-Now we got hold of a rear view of the Sterna. Type 1 has a gearbox that can be changed for clockwise or counterclockwise rotation.

-Type 2 changes the reduction from 21 to 34 so that the larger gear increases the height above the crankshaft in order to admit a cannon between the V of the cylinder blocks.

-Type 3 has a two-stage, two-speed supercharger compressor to maintain 900 CV at 1,800 meters of altitude and 850 CV at 4,500 meters.

-Type 4 uses direct fuel injection and has a Planiol supercharger.

-Type 5 uses a transmission to couple the distant propeller to the engine.

“Interesting rear view of the Sterna”

-Little known has been the close collaboration of Lorraine with Potez.

-The Henry Potez Establishments controlled the ancient Anzani.

-For this reason, Lorraine also built these engines and variants of them applied to auxiliary groups such as the 1D, 1D1, 2C, 2D1, or 2D2 that were mounted on board and carried a generator, a pump and/or compressor.

“2D2 photograph”

“2D2 schematic drawings”

-From the Lorraine Potez licensed engines that were built, the 3D gave 60 CV at 2,299 rpm.

-The 6Ba had two rows of 3 cylinders each, and gave 130 CV.

-The 9A, Ab, Ac and Ad, delivered between 230 and 260 CV. One of them was the 9 cylinder that was tested with Diesel.

“12Doo”

-The 12 Doo, with 12 horizontally-opposed cylinders, was air cooled, and gave 475 CV at 2,500 rpm with a superimposed gearbox.

-And below we show a better illustration of the 12 DOO with compressor giving 475 CV at 2,500 rpm and 3,000 meters of altitude.

“Lorraine 12 DOO, front view”

-The starter air distributor is divided, one for each cylinder row.

-The 12Doo designer engineer, from Potez, was M. Ménètrier.

From Appendix 6: At the Krakow Air Museum in Poland there is exposed a Lorraine-Dietrich with reference DM-400, unknown until now by the author (it is still being investigated) of possibly 400 CV and model “D” ?.

"The well preserved DM-400"

-We also introduce a new photograph of the Lorraine "Sterna" with an extension shaft and contra-rotating propellers through a gear reduction box that in turn divides the output for the two propellers.

“Lorraine Sterna”

“The airship "America" in Spitzbergen”

“Engine room with Lorraine engine”

From Appendix 12: More information and illustrations on the Petrel model.

“Lorraine-Dietrich Petrel Engine”

“Comparison Sterna with Petrel”

“Planetary gearing details”

-From Lorraine's important engineer Marius J.A. Baptiste Barberou we have located some engine patents of his invention.

“Barberou designs”

“AML 200 CV, schematic drawing”

-Also known as Lorraine-Dietrich in its beginnings as an automobile manufacturer.

-We now have two photographs of the Petrel and Sterna engines with output shaft extension PTO (Power Take Off). And advanced gearbox, for special designs.

“Petrel with extension, gearbox and two propellers”

“Sterna with extension, gearbox and two propellers”

-Both engines have two contra-rotating propellers.