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Straight engine
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==Aviation use== {{refimprove|section|date=December 2022}} Many straight engines have been produced for aircraft, particularly from the early years of aviation and through the interwar period leading up to the Second World War. Straight engines were simpler and had low frontal area, reducing drag, and provided better cockpit visibility. Straight sixes were especially popular in the First World War, and most German and Italian and some British aircraft used descendants of [[Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft|Daimler's]] pre-war inline six. Prominent examples include the German [[Mercedes D.III]] and [[BMW IIIa]], Italian [[Isotta Fraschini V.4]] and British [[Siddeley Puma]]. The British [[de Havilland Gipsy]] family of engines and their descendants included straight-four and straight-six upright and inverted air-cooled engines which were used on a wide range of smaller aircraft around the world, including on the [[de Havilland Tiger Moth|Tiger Moth]] biplane, and helped made the configuration popular for light aircraft. [[Menasco Motors Company|Menasco]] and [[Ranger Engines|Fairchild-Ranger]] in the United States, [[List of Renault engines|Renault]] in France, [[Walter Aircraft Engines|Walter]] in Czechoslovakia, and [[Hirth]] in Germany all built a similar range of engines which were popular in their respective markets. The aviation use of term "[[Inline engine (aeronautics)|inline engine]]" is used more broadly than for straight engines, since it also applies to other configurations where the cylinders are located in rows (e.g. [[V engine]]s, [[W engine]]s, [[H engine]]s and [[horizontally opposed engine]]s).<ref name="USNA1919_41Glossary">{{cite book|last=Johnson|first= E. R.|title=United States Naval Aviation, 1919-1941: Aircraft, Airships and Ships Between the Wars|edition=illustrated |date=2011-04-20|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786445509|page=326|quote=INLINE ENGINE–A type of reciprocating piston engine in which an even (4-6-8-12) number of cylinders are arranged either in a straight line or in a V-type configuration directly above (or below) the crankcase.}}</ref> === Inverted engines === {{unreferenced|section|date=December 2022}} Some straight aircraft engines have used an ''inverted engine'' configuration, whereby the crankshaft is at the top of the engine and the pistons hang downwards from it. Advantages of the inverted arrangement include a raised thrust line for improved clearance for the propeller, which either allows for the use of a larger, more efficient propeller, or for shorter undercarriage. Since the thrust line is higher, the engine can be mounted lower in the airframe, improving visibility forward, which is no longer blocked by the cylinder heads. It also allows for a simpler exhaust to keep gasses clear from the cockpit.
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