Bugatti U-16

The US Bolling Commission bought a license to build the engine in the US,[1] and small numbers of a slightly revised version were built by the Duesenberg Motor Corporation as the King-Bugatti.

To reduce overall length, these crankshafts were undercut:[4] a typical Bugatti approach, where only their unlimited budget and attention to detail could afford such complexities.

A bevel gear at the junction drove a vertical shaft from which the single overhead camshaft and dual magnetos for each bank were driven.

[5] The engine completed ten-hour and fifty-hour endurance tests in 1917, and the French government purchased a license and arranged for production by Peugeot.

Bolling visited Europe to choose aero engines to be produced for the Aviation Section, Signal Corps.

[5] The US government engaged Colonel Charles Brady King, to redesign the engine for production in the US, much to Ettore Bugatti's irritation.

In 1920 Breguet showed a "quadrimoteur" made of two Type U-16s coupled together, with provision to de-clutch any cylinder bank to enable it to be stopped while the other three units continued to provide power.

A Quadrimoteur type B on display at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, le Bourget, Paris.
A King Bugatti on display