DAF engines for light aircraft are automobile engines built by DAF in Eindhoven, The Netherlands from 1958 to 1975. The DAF firm was founded in 1928 by Hub van Doorne to build trucks. He was joined in 1936 by his brother Wim. The firm built trucks and beginning in 1958 the inexpensive four-seat automobiles with van Doorne-designed Variomatic transmission using belts to achieve continuously-varying gearing. The firm was purchased by Volvo in 1975 and is now DAF Trucks, N.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PACCAR, Inc. which is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington in the US. PACCAR also controls Kenworth, Peterbilt, Leyland Trucks and Kenworth Australia. Details of the DAF automobiles and their engines can be found at this Website.
O-52 -- {3.366 / 2.894 / 51.5} / {85.5 / 73.5 / 844}
2cyl; DAF 44, DAF 46; 30hp@N/A rpm; 1958-1975; Wt = N/A.
Last and largest of the DAF series of two-cylinder horizontally-opposed engines and known to have been converted for aircraft use; earlier DAF engines had 36.0 cu. in. / 590 cc, 45.5 / 746, and 46.6 / 763 displacements.
AM6/03 (PR-2 application); BGP.
Applications: (Italy) Politecnico di Milano (designer E. Preti) PR-2 Saltafossi "Ditch-Jumper"; built in 1946, first flown in 2002.