At the outbreak of WW1 the need for cars diminished and the Spanish company Hispano-Suiza stopped producing cars and focused on aircraft engines, designer Marc Birkigt modifying his existing powerful V8 car engine for aircraft use, the prototype being tested at full power output for a 50 hour continuous run in February 1915 as the Hispano-Suiza 8A. To increase reliability beyond that of his car engine, Marc Birkigt had incorporated dual ignition systems including duplicate distributers, coils and spark plugs, a methodology still practiced today with modern aero engines. It is of note that the stove-enamelling on the cylinder blocks was not cosmetic, it was to counter the monobloc aluminium castings porosity, a classic case of design requirements exceeding the production capabilities of the time. Aircraft that were powered by the Hispano-Suiza 8 | Austin-Ball A.F.B.1 | Avia BH-21 | Avia BH-22 | Bartel BM-5 | Bernard SIMB AB 10 | Blanchard Brd.1 | Caudron C.59 | Caudron R.11 | Fokker D.X | Fokker S.III | Gourdou-Leseurre GL.21 | Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard | Nieuport 29 | S.E.5 | S.E.5a (Wolseley Viper) | Sopwith Dolphin | Sopwith Cuckoo | SPAD S.VII | SPAD S.XI | SPAD S.XII | SPAD S.XIII | Boeing NB-2 | AT-3 | Consolidated PT-1 | Cox-Klemin TW-2 | Dayton-Wright TW-3 | Huff-Daland TW-5 | Curtiss AT-4 | Vought VE-7 | Waco DSO | Yokosuka Ro-go Ko-gata | Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 | Mitsubishi 1MF | Mitsubishi 2MR | | |
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