Folks with an interest in pre-WWII motorsports are probably aware of designer/builder
Harry Armenius Miller. In the 1920s the engines and cars conceived by Miller, designed
by Leo Goosen and built by Fred Offenhauser (yes, that Offenhauser) dominated Indy
and tracks (dirt, gravel, wood and tarmac) all across the US. They even went to Europe
where Bugatti was so impressed he copied the Miller engine. Miller engines also saw
extensive marine use, the engine design that became the famous Offy actually started out
as boat engine. Miller marine engines were used by Gar Wood amongst other famous names
of the period.
Miller also dabbled in aircraft engines and design, the most (in)famous project being
the Tucker XP-57. Harry designed the engine for the fast-talking Preston Tucker, their
relationship went back to the early thirties and while being involved with Tucker never
did Harry any favours he considered him a friend and stuck by him, much to the detriment
of his own reputation.
But, before the XP-57 Harry designed a series of V-16s, they were all variations on the same
twin-cam theme and offered in upright and inverted versions. The base design goes back to
at least 1934 for an engine intended to power a new racer designed by Keith Rider. It wasn't
built and Rider's aircraft emerged power by a big radial. The basic design reappeared several
times and in 1940-41 Tucker was offering them to the Army and Navy with exhorbitant promises,
they had no production facilities but Tucker insisted that if given the money he could be cranking
them out in months. The Army and Navy correspondence concerning inspection of facilities
and reality of the proposals makes interesting reading.
A web search will find lots of results concerning Harry and the two best books are Mark Dees'
massive tome
The Miller Dynasty and Grif Borgeson's
Miller. Gordon Eliot White's
paperback
The Marvelous Mechanical Designs of Harry A. Miller from Iconografix is an
excellent illustrated intro. The two engine drawings are from the White book, the Rider-Miller
3-view from Dees'
The Miller Dynasty.
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