This is a WWII-era Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp radial engine that has just popped up for sale on eBay, in full running and working order it would be capable of 1,450 bhp on 100/130-grade fuel.
The R-2000 Twin Wasp has two rows of seven cylinders in a radial layout, for 14 cylinders in total with an overall displacement of 2,000 cubic inches or 32.8 liters. Interestingly, the engines were built by the General Motors Buick Division, and a total of 12,966 examples would be made.
This is an original WWII-era engineering description of the Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp radial engine. You’ll see that it has two rows of seven cylinders, forming a compact unit designed to be fitted into wing engine pods.During the early stages of WWII it became clear that the United States needed a more powerful engine for military transport aircraft, it needed to be able to run on lower octane fuels due to wartime rationing, and it needed to be as easy to service as possible.
The Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp was developed as a large-bored version of the earlier Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp which had a displacement of 1,829 cubic inches (30 liters). The R-1830 was produced in vast numbers during the war, and powered dozens of aircraft from the United States, Europe, Britain, and even Australia.
The R-2000 Twin Wasp had its displacement increased with a simple overbore, but a series of other improvements were integrated into it to make it simpler to build. These included the use of plain bearings for the crankshaft (rather than more complex and expensive roller bearings), front-mounted magnetos instead of rear-mounted, for easier servicing, and the ability to run on 87 octane fuel.
The dry weight of the engine was significant at 1,570 lbs (710 kgs), the standard version had a compression ratio of 6.5:1 a diameter of 49.49 inches (1,257 mm), a length of 61.02 inches (1,550 mm), and it could produce 1,300 bhp at 2,700 rpm on 87 octane fuel (lower grade) and up to 1,450 bhp at 2,800 rpm with 100/130-grade fuel (higher grade).
The Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp was fitted to a number of aircraft including the Douglas C-54 Skymaster, de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou, Vought XF5U, Douglas Hyper DC-3, Aviation Traders Carvair, and the Douglas DC-4.
Surviving examples of the R-2000 Twin Wasp are now much harder to come by than the far more common R-1830 Twin Wasp and they remain desirable in warbird circles for their ability to run on lower octane fuels, and their simpler maintenance.
This is an R-2000 Twin Wasp-powered Douglas C-54 Skymaster landing at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in 1948 as part of the Berlin Airlift operation. Image courtesy of the United States Air Force Historical Research Agency via Cees Steijger.If you’d like to read more about this engine or enquire about buying it you can find the eBay listing for it here.
It’s currently being offered for $6,150 USD out of Havelock, North Carolina and the seller notes that it has its internal components in place, and that it rotates smoothly with the turning tool (the turning tool is also included in the sale).
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