Hispano-Suiza 8 was a Spanish WW1 aircraft engine. His first tests took place in 1914. The engine - version 8a - weighed 202 kilograms with a displacement of 11.76 liters. Its maximum power reached 150 HP. It was one of the most widely produced aircraft engines of the First World War.
The Hispano-Suiza 8 was an 8 cylinder V8 inline, water cooled engine. Work on this engine began very quickly after the outbreak of World War I, and its design was based on V8 car engines produced by the Hispano-Suiza plant. Finally, a very successful drive unit was created with considerable reliability, a good power-weight ratio and a very large potential for modernization, much larger than the rotary engines of that time. During World War I and later, the Hispano-Suiza 8 engine was constantly refined and its subsequent versions appeared, for example: the 8a model (the first production version that entered service in the summer of 1915), the 8 Ab model (180 HP, which entered the line in 1917) or the 8F model (an engine with a greater weight, but also with a power increased to 300 HP). Hispano-Suiza engines of 8 different versions powered such planes as, for example: Nieuport 14, Hanriot HD. 5 or HD. 15, Spad S.VII, S.XI or - especially - S.XIII.
The Hispano-Suiza 8A engine was introduced into service in 1914. It was an 8-cylinder, water-cooled V engine with power up to 140 HP, and in the last versions up to 300 HP. Engines of this type were one of the most popular during World War I and approximately 49,800 were produced. They were installed in the following airplanes: Avia, Fokker, Nieuport, Sopwith, SPAD.