The sports car manufacturer’s aircraft engines make up a small but extremely interesting chapter in the rich history of Porsche. It is a story chapter which reaches far back in time, as more than 100 years ago, Ferdinand Porsche also used aircraft engines to establish the reputation of a diverse engineering company that would later become the company Porsche AG.
In 1955, when the aircraft engine ban in Germany was lifted in line with the Paris Agreements, it was recognised at Porsche that the air-cooled 4-cylinder boxer engine of the 356 would also be suitable as the basis for an aircraft engine.
And so came about the Porsche 678 aircraft engine with power outputs from 52bhp to 75bhp, which was built right into the 1960s, and powered, among other things, the prototype of the first German post-war aircraft to be built in significant numbers, the Pützer Elster.
Since September 2010, the Porsche Museum has therefore looked after the company’s tradition not only on land but also in the air, with a carefully restored Pützer Elster B (www.elster-porschemuseum.de), even if the series production machine does not have a Porsche engine due to maintenance and spare-part requirements.
Later, Porsche took up the matter of aircraft engines again. Similarly to the development of the Type 678 aircraft engine, in the early 1980s it was the 6-cylinder boxer motor from the 911 that caught people’s attention.
In September 1983, flight testing began for the Porsche aircraft engine PFM 3200, with a displacement of 3200 cubic centimetres. To comply with the redundancies required for aircraft engines, the 204-220bhp engine gained a dual ignition and two alternators, and the camshaft drivetrain was converted from chain to spur gears.
It became known in the history of aviation as the “whispering engine”, and indeed it runs very quietly even by today’s standards. It’s also impressive in its excellent consumption values, thanks to fuel injection and optimum-efficiency reduction gear. A Porsche-powered Mooney, for example, consumes just 35 litres per hour instead of the 50 litres or more typical for a Lycoming engine.
