In 1926, about 20 New York businessmen, including James Packard, and a group of US Navy officers expressed an interest in building an airplane designed to break the standing air speed record.

The engineering involved in the design of the crankshaft, single piece crankcase, and connecting rod system was very complex.

The single piece crankcase was designed to save weight and give maximum strength, but made assembly of the engine difficult.

[2] The Bureau of Aeronautics analyzed the possibilities of the plane becoming a competitive race plane, and decided that the extra weight of the supercharger could be better put to use by installing an epicyclic reduction gear, for improved propeller efficiency, thereby providing greater improvement in performance than what the supercharged engine with a direct drive propeller could provide for the same weight.

The dynomometer tests indicated the power output was only 1,300 hp (970 kW) @ 2,800 rpm due to the large impeller clearance that allowed only 7.7 in (200 mm) Hg (3.8 psi) boost.

After reducing the impeller clearances, the supercharger then produced 9.6 in (240 mm) Hg (4.7 psi) of boost and the engine delivered 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) at 2,700 rpm.

[2] The first engine later received an epicyclic propeller reduction gear made by Allison, an increase in its compression ratio, a Scintilla magneto ignition, and the new design cylinder banks of the 3A-1500 inverted engines, a design that had both spark plugs on the outside for easier maintenance.

No orders were received, and because only two engines were built, both for the Navy as X-2775s, the Packard model designation of 2A-2775 never came into public use.

1 in its most modified version, with high compression, reduction gear and late type cylinder banks, was used in the Naval Aircraft Factory Mercury racing plane with engine 1A-2775, Serial No.