The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928

Frontispiece—President Herbert Hoover (in front of microphones) presenting the Collier Trophy to Alvan Macauley (nearest engine), President of the Packard Motor Car Co., on March 31, 1932 (although the award was for 1931). Also present were Hiram Bingham, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (nearest pillar), Clarence M. Young, Director of Aeronautics, U.S. Department of Commerce (between Macauley and Hoover), and Amelia Earhart, first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (between Macauley and the engine). In the foreground is a cutaway Packard diesel aeronautical engine and directly in front of Senator Bingham is the Collier Trophy, America’s highest aviation award. (Smithsonian photo A48825.)

The following microfilm prints are available at the Smithsonian Institution:
“The Packard Diesel Aircraft Engine—A New Chapter in Transportation Progress.” An advertising brochure produced by the Packard Motor Car Company in 1930, illustrated, 17 pages.
Fifty-Hour Test of the Engine by the Packard Company, 1930. Text and charts, 14 pages.
Fifty-Hour Test of the Engine by the U.S. Navy in 1931: Text and charts, 26 pages.
Packard Instructional Manual, 1931. Illustrated, 74 pages.
“The Packard Diesel Engine,” Aviation Institute of U.S.A. Pamphlet No. 21-A, 1930. Illustrated, 32 pages.
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C., 20402—Price 60 cents


It is difficult to acknowledge fully the assistance given by persons and museums for the preparation of this book. However, I wish especially to thank Hugo T. Byttebier, engine historian, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dipl. Ing. Hermann I. A. Dorner, diesel designer, Hanover, Germany; Harold E. Morehouse, and C. H. Wiegman, Lycoming Engines, Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Barry Tully, Goodyear Aircraft, Akron, Ohio; Richard S. Allen, aviation author, Round Lake, New York; William H. Cramer, brother of Parker D. Cramer, Wantagh, New York; Erik Hildes-Heim, Early Bird and aviation historian, Fairfield, Connecticut.