The Wilsco 79 diesel of 0.79 cc displacement is arguably one of the least-known products of the early post-war British model engine manufacturing industry. It even managed to escape the attention of the usually-vigilant Peter Chinn, who encountered an example in 1956 and was reduced to polling his "Model Aircraft" readers to see if anyone could enlighten him regarding the engine's origins. No-one could ...........

All that is known about this neat and exceptionally well-made little barstock sideport diesel is that it was produced in extremely small numbers by a firm calling themselves Williams & Scott. They worked from an address in Balsall Common, a small rural community lying to the SE of Birmingham about midway between Birmingham and Coventry, England. Production appears to have been confined to the year 1948. The highest serial number confirmed to date is 32, making it appear unlikely that production reached anywhere near three figures. Original examples are mega-rare today. 

Many years later, Tom Crompton of Small Engine Works (SEW) fame made a short run of around 10 very accurate replicas of this engine. These are marked like the originals on the right side of the case with the WILSCO “79” identification, while the other side of the case is marked SEW plus the serial number. It is thus easy to distinguish between the originals and the Crompton replicas - buyer beware!

Full details of the Wilso 79, including a full test, may be found in the Wilsco 79 article which appears elsewhere on this web-site.