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Side Valve Engines The Crusader Louis' thoughts turned to aero engines. In the autumn of 1912, he designed a V8 engine which could deliver 120h.p. at 2,500 r.p.m. It was called the Crusader and was widely announced in the British aviation press, in March 1913. This was welcomed by the British aircraft manufacturers as no really suitable British engines were available at the time. The Crusader's first flying test should have taken place on 6th August 1913, after one of the engines was fitted to a Radley-England Waterplane. It never actually managed to take-off, because of problems with the design of its two hulls. After this tragedy, the Sunbeam Motor Car Company decided to purchase an aircraft to test the new engine. It was a French Farman biplane, and Sunbeam decided to hire a full-time test pilot for the project. This was John Alcock who later became well known for his famous non-stop Atlantic flight with Arthur Brown. The test flights began in the middle of October 1913, and took place at Brooklands. There were initial teething troubles, but these were soon overcome, and in December the aircraft began a long period of intensive flight tests which ranged over most of southern England, and continued until the outbreak of War in 1914. The War Office became interested in the engine and one was purchased by the Royal Aircraft Factory. It was delivered to Farnborough for extensive bench testing and delivered a maximum of 135h.p. There were one or two problems to be sorted out, but if they could be resolved the engine looked as though it would be suitable for military use. Some Crusaders were also fitted to power-boats that were built by Brookes, for the Smith's Financial Group. In March a Crusader was exhibited at the Aero Show in Olympia. The bore had been increased from 80mm to 90mm and the engine could now deliver 150h.p.at 2,000r.p.m. The engine had two side valves per cylinder, was water-cooled, weighed 480lb dry, had two Claudel-Hobson carburettors, and two Bosch magnetos. At the show, Avro ordered one of the engines for the 510 seaplane, which was to be entered in the Circuit of Britain Race. The race was cancelled due to the outbreak of War and Crusaders were in demand for a very different sort of use. The first military aircraft fitted with the engine was a Royal Aircraft Factory RE.5 biplane, in July 1914. The engine was soon fitted to many other aircraft: Aircraft Fitted with Crusaders
The 110h.p. Sunbeam This was the early version of the Crusader, before the bore was increased to 90mm. It was always considered to be a separate engine by Sunbeam, and a number were sold as such. Aircraft Fitted with the engine
The engine was also fitted to the Sunbeam 24h.p. hill climb car of 1913. Two engines were supplied for use in the Tollier powerboat of 1913, and another was used in the Brookes powerboat of 1914.
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