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FIRST FLIGHT OF A PACKARD DIESEL POWERED
STINSON DETROITER, X7654, 1928

Capt. Lionel M. Woolson & Walter E. Lees, May, 1929

WALTER IS INVOLVED WITH DIESEL AIRCRAFT ENGINE PROJECT AT PACKARD

In Detroit at Packard, Walter became involved in a very special Project. Captain Lionel M.
Woolson, the Chief Aeronautical Engineer and Dipl.Ing., Hermann I.A. Dorner, a diesel engine
inventor from Hanover, Germany, designed the Packard diesel with the help of Packard
engineers and Dorner's assistant, Adolph Widmann. Walter worked with Woolson and Marvin
Steele, the assistant engineer.
The historic first flight of the Packard diesel engine took place on September 19, 1928, at
the Packard proving grounds, Utica, Michigan. But the first unofficial test was made the night
before. Walter was given the distinction of flying the world's first diesel powered airplane flight.
From Jo Cooper's PIONEER PILOT : WALTER RECALLS THE EARLY DAYS IN
TESTING THE ENGINE
I made the first test in a Stinson, a cabin job, the SM-IDX "Detroiter". The official test
flight was to be in the morning, but Captain Woolson and I took the plane up the evening before
just to be sure.
The engine had only one valve which acted as intake and exhaust. Our first test engine
did not even have short exhaust stacks, but exhausted directly out of the cylinder into the open
air.It flew all right, but coming in to land, I couldn't throttle under 1500, so took off again. In my
next attempt at landing, I lined up the plane on a glide to the field, then cut the fuel off entirely and
landed with a dead stick.
The next day I made several flights. Capt. Woolson had installed a revolving valve on the
intake and exhaust ports. It was hooked to the throttle so that it was open for take off and flying,
but then closed off the ports and put back suction in the cylinders so the engine would slow down
when landing.
I made many expereimental flights with Capt. Woolson, also with mechanics. Once we
made a flight to 19,000 feet without oxygen. We also made several night flights with automobile
headlights for landing lights. While flying one day, Capt. Woolson confided to me that he some
day wanted to make an engine with one moving part.
To start the engine in cold weather, we heated each cylinder with a blow torch, then ran
the engine to warm it up. The flying was done inside the Packard Proving grounds, approximately
3/4 mile long and 1/4 mile wide. There was a hangar at one end.
To impress the visitors who came out to see the engine run and fly, in winter time Capt.
Woolson would call me up from the plant in Detroit, telling me the approximate time he and the
visitors would reach the Proving Grounds. We would warm the engine up in the hangar and keep
it running until we saw the car with the Capt. and the visitors turn into the grounds. Then we

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would shut the engine off and when they arrived, push the plane outside and start the engine
before they could inspect it and see it was already warm.
The first starter was a shot gun. Later, it was replaced by a special electrical starter. We
also installed glow plugs in the head of each cylinder, hooked up directly to a large battery. When
the push button for the starter was depressed, contact with the glow plugs was made. At no time
was gasoline used to start the engine.
SELECTION FROM WALTER LEE'S JOURNAL

Packard to Begin Building Diesel Plane Engines Soon

Will Start Construction at Once on New Three
Story Factory to Handle Work
[From Aviation, March 2, 1929, vol. 26, no. 10]

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - Indication that the Diesel type airplane engine, recently developed by
Capt. L. M. Woolson, chief aeronautical engineer of the Packard Motor Car Co., will become a
commercial reality and possibly a revolutionary factor in airplane design, is seen here in the
announcement of the concern that it will begin construction immediately of a $650,000 plant to
produce the engines in large quantity for the commercial market.
The new plant, according to the announcement by Hugh J. Ferry, treasurer of the
Packard firm, will be completed and in operation within five weeks. Between 600 and 700 men
will be employed and, according to the expectations, production will be carried on at the rate of
about 500 Diesel engines per month by July.
The Packard Diesel was announced first in October, following experiments covering
several years. The original engine was placed in a Stinson-Detroiter, which was flown
successfully by Captain Woolson and Walter Lees, Packard pilot. Since that time Captain
Woolson has built four of the engines, all of 200 hp. capacity, developing 1 hp. for every 2 lb. of
weight.
PACKARD DIESEL ENGINE:
PACKARD MODEL DR-980 OF 1928

This is the engine which made the Endurance Flight successful.

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 Specifications
Type 4-stroke cycle diesel
Cylinders 9---static radial configuration
Cooling Air
Fuel injection Directly into cylinders at a pressure of 6000 psi
Valves Poppet type, one per cylinder
Ignition Compression---glow plugs for starting---air compression
500 psi at 1000 F.
Fuel Distillate or "furnace oil"
Horsepower 225 at 1950 rpm
Bore and stroke 4 13/.16 x 6 in.
Compression ratio 16:1---maximum combustion pressure 1500 psi
Displacement 982 cu in.
Weight 510 lb without propeller hub
Weight-horsepower ratio 2.26 lb hp
Where manufactured U.S.A.
Fuel consumption .46 lb per hp/hr at full speed
Fuel consumption .40 lb per hp/hr at cruising
Oil consumption .04 lb per hp/hr
Outside diameter 45 11/16 in.
Overall length 36 3/4 in.
Optional accessories Starter---Eclipse electric inertia; 6 volts. Special series
no. 7
Generator---Eclipse type G-1; 6 volts

Instruction Book for the Packard-Diesel Aircraft Engine (Detroit: Packard Motor
Car Company, 1931), p. 3.

The specifications from SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT,

The First Airplane Diesel Engine
Packard Model DR-980 of 1928 - Robert B. Meyer 1964

Packard diesel-powered Stinson "Detroiter", 1929

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 Packard

Detroit, Mich
November 24,
Inner Volume XV
Number 18
1930
Circle
Oh What a Rep for "REVS" Has the Packard-
Diesel Engine!
By EDWARD MACAULEY
Sales Manager, Aircraft and Marine Engine Division
So interesting was the 10,000 mile demonstrating flight of Edward Macauley
and Fred Brossy, Packard pilot of their Diesel-powered plane, that Mr. Macauley
set forth their experiences en route.

"REVS." You won't find the word in any dictionary, but Mr. Webster will soon
give it a place, for it has become a real word everywhere and means the
revolutions per minute of an internal combustion engine.
"Revs" -- a contraction of the word "revolutions" but meaning much more -
- is one of the most important "words" in the lexicon of the flying man. A full
quota of "Revs" with plenty of distance between his landing wheels and the
ground and the flying man can feel as carefree as a baby with a bottle.
You have to come out here to Colorado Springs thought to find the place
where "Revs" assume more importance than anywhere in the country. We
discovered this, Fred Brossy, Packard test pilot, and myself when we stopped
here on our 10,000 mile demonstrating flight with our Packard Diesel-engined
plane.
Colorado Springs flying men know how "Revs" go down as altitudes
increase and how power falls off as "Revs" drop. It is brought home to them
more sharply than elsewhere because, when they leave a flying field here,
they have to keep right on climbing to carry them over the mountains. These
mountains are high, too, so that 10,000 foot altitudes are almost normal in
flying.
Some of the stories about our engine which we have been encountering
are downright amusing. But there has been a posiitive chuckle in the way the
Packard-Diesel has been answering them.
We "learned" here that our engine would "never amount to anything
because it couldn't fly at altitudes." That story persisted so long it had moss
on it. This was a real setting to spike an untrue story and show most
graphically an inherent feature of the Packard-Diesel which is going to mean
a tremendous big thing to the flying man who gives any thought to "Revs-- --
and try and find a flying man who doesn't!
Our passengers on the first demonstration trip watched the tachometer
and altimeter as we climbed. At 10,000 feet, the Colorado Springs men
discovered for themselves that , with the throttle unchanged from a setting for
a normal cruising speed of 1800 R.P.M. at the ground, the "Revs" went up to
1800. They also discovered that the 225 horsepower Packard-Diesel Engine
is the equivalent of a 350 horsepower gasoline engine at 20,000 foot altitude.

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 Edward Macauley Frederic Brossy

BUHL SPORT AIRSEDAN NC8451

WHAT IS THIS AIRPLANE? It's a Buhl "Sport Airsedan" manufactured by the Buhl
Aircraft Company of Marysville, Michigan in November of 1929. She was purchased by
order of the Board of Directors of the Packard Motor Company who, meeting on
Wednesday, May 28th, 1930 at 3:00 p.m., They had decided they needed a good ship to
demonstrate the wonders of their new Packard diesel aircraft engine. At that meeting
they voted to spend the princely sum of $8,566.67 on a new Buhl Sport Airsedan.
Packard needed to get their new Buhl retrofitted with the experimental Packard diesel
engine. NC-8451 Serial No. 57 was originally built by the factory as a Model CA-3D
which means it was powered by a Wright J6-9 engine of 300 h.p. at 2,000 r.p.m. The
Wright J6-9 represented an upgrade from the 220 h.p. J5 used in earlier Buhl Sport
Airsedans. It was initially licensed to carry three people under Approved Type Certificate
(ATC) #163, issued June 12, 1929. NC-8451 and a number of other siblings were given
special "Group 2 Approval" (also know as a "Letter of Approval") 2-72, granted July 24,
1929, to carry four people after the new engine had proven itself worthy. With the
Packard order, the Wright engine was exchanged for the new experimental Packard
diesel aircraft engine. The airplane was then "experimental" until December 11, 1930
when another Group 2 Approval, 2-309, was granted especially for NC-8451 with its
diesel engine. Though nearly 100 aircraft were reportedly equipped with the new
Packard engine, this was to be the only diesel powered Buhl.
The Packard Motor Car Company tried mightily to prove the viability of the diesel
engine. They lavished advertising and promotion dollars on the project far in excess of
any eventual return. Sadly, the project was abandoned, in part when its primary sponsor
within the organization, Mr. L. M. Woolson, was tragically killed in an aircraft accident
and the ever increasing depression forced virtually all American industries to focus on
what we would now phrase their "core competencies."