Argus As 5

Argus Motoren

Industry	Aircraft engine manufacturing
Founded	early 1920s
Headquarters	Germany
Products	Aircraft engines

The Argus As 5 represented a substantial 24-cylinder aircraft engine arranged in six banks forming a double W configuration, engineered and manufactured in Germany during the early 1920s by Argus Motoren.

Design and development

After the Armistice of 1918, Germany maintained aircraft and engine production under supervision by the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control. To power very large aircraft, Argus developed the As 5, a WW-24 water-cooled piston engine.

The As 5 featured six cylinder banks positioned around a central crankshaft, all driving a single output shaft. Each cylinder connected to the crankshaft via a master and articulated slave big end, a mechanism typical of many radial engine designs. The arrangement placed the top and bottom trios of cylinder banks at a 45° angle relative to each other, with a 90° separation between the outermost banks.

Cylinders were equipped with sheet metal water jackets and shared aluminium alloy cylinder heads in groups of four per bank. The inlet and exhaust valves operated through shaft-driven overhead camshafts. The aluminium alloy crankcase was constructed in two halves, split horizontally.

Although testing was conducted, the As 5 never entered flight service and was ultimately discontinued alongside the large aircraft programs it was intended to power.

Engines on display

One surviving example is preserved and displayed at the Polish Aviation Museum located in Kraków, Poland.

External links

• Polish Aviation Museum – Argus As 5
• Enginehistory.org – Argus As 5