Maybach VL II

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]

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

Five of them powered the German airship Graf Zeppelin, housed in separate nacelles. The engines developed 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]

References
  1. 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.


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