VL II
Type V-12 liquid-cooled 4-stroke piston engine (Otto)
National origin Germany
Manufacturer Maybach
Major applications Graf Zeppelin, USS Akron, USS Macon
Number built at least 24
Developed from Maybach VL I

The Maybach VL II was a type of internal combustion engine built by the German company Maybach in the late 1920s and 1930s. It was an uprated development of the successful Maybach VL I, and like the VL I, was a 60° V-12 engine.[1]

History

Five of them powered the German airship Graf Zeppelin, housed in separate nacelles. The engines developed 410 kW (550 hp) and were of 33.251 L (2,029.1 cu in) capacity. They could burn either Blau gas or petrol.[1][2] The American USS Akron used eight of them, mounted internally,[3] as did its sister ship Macon.[4] The engines were reversible, meaning different cams could be engaged allowing the engine crankshaft to run in either direction, enabling reverse thrust.[5]

Lürssen built the fast yacht Oheka II in 1927; powered by three VL IIs, it was the fastest vessel of its type and became the basis of Germany's E-boats of World War II.[6]

Applications

Specifications

VL II engine on display at the Zeppelin-Museum Meersburg

Data from National Air and Space Museum [7]

General characteristics

  • Type: V-12 four-stroke liquid-cooled piston engine
  • Bore: 140 mm (5.5 in)
  • Stroke: 180 mm (7.1 in)
  • Displacement: 33,300 cm3 (2,030 cu in)
  • Length: 195.6 cm (77.0 in)
  • Width: 91.4 cm (36.0 in)
  • Height: 96.5 cm (38.0 in)
  • Dry weight: 809.2 kg (1,784 lb)

Components

  • Cooling system: Liquid-cooled

Performance

  • Power output: 430 kW (570 hp) at 1,600 rpm

See also

Related development

Related lists

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maybach VL.II.
  1. 1 2 Swopes, Bryan R. "Maybach VL-2 Archives". This Day in Aviation. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "Graf Zeppelin Design and Technology". Airships.net.
  3. ↑ Cameron, Garth (2017). Umberto Nobile And the Arctic Search for the Airship Italia. Fonthill Media.
  4. ↑ Ventry, Arthur Frederick Daubeney Eveleigh-de Moleyns (1982). Airship saga : the history of airships seen through the eyes of the men who designed, built, and flew them. Blandford Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780713710014.
  5. ↑ "Maybach VL-2, V-12 Engine". National Air and Space Museum. 10 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "Oheka II A New Speed Queen". MotorBoating. January 1927.
  7. ↑ "Maybach VL-2, V-12 Engine". National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
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