The General Electric J47 turbojet (GE company designation TG-190) was developed by General Electric from its earlier J35 . It first flew in May 1948. The J47 was the first axial-flow turbojet approved for commercial use in the United States. It was used in many types of aircraft, and more than 30,000 were manufactured before production ceased in 1956. It saw continued service in the US military until 1978. Packard built 3,025 of the engines under license.
13-529: X39 may refer to: General Electric X39 , nuclear-powered General Electric J47 turbojet X-39 , aircraft designation is reserved for use with the Future Aircraft Technology Enhancements (FATE) program by the USAF [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as
26-523: A joint engine/airframe proposal for the WS-125. It was one of two nuclear-powered gas turbine projects undertaken by GE, the other one being the X39 project. The J87 was a large turbojet, designed to operate as a paired unit, with a nuclear reactor power section. The complete power-plant was given the project designation X211 . The X211 was a relatively large multiple turbojet engine of conventional layout, save for
39-592: A large plenum chamber . Heated exhaust air was collected by another plenum chamber to be fed to the turbine sections. Testing of the X211 was confined to the XJ87 turbojet sections. In 1956, the United States Air Force (USAF) decided that the proposed WS-125 bomber was unfeasible as an operational strategic aircraft. In spite of this, the X211 program was continued for another 3 years, albeit with no target application. It
52-527: A letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=X39&oldid=699196916 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages General Electric X39 The J47's greatest advantage, as advertised,
65-617: The Lockland facility (renamed to the Evendale facility) utilized vertical engine assembly to ensure compressor rotor balance and stability. The technological jump provided by the engine led to it becoming the most produced jet engine in aviation history, and established GE Aviation as a worldwide leader in jet propulsion. Overhaul life for the J47 ranged from 15 hours (in 1948) to a theoretical 1,200 hours (625 achievable in practice) in 1956. For example,
78-617: The X211 . The design based on the J47 became the X39 program. This system consisted of two modified J47 engines which, instead of combusting jet fuel, received their heated, compressed air from a heat exchanger that was part of the Heat Transfer Reactor Experiment (HTRE) reactor. The X-39 was successfully operated in conjunction with three different reactors, the HTRE-1, HTRE-2 and HTRE-3. Had
91-601: The compressor , allowing fighter jets equipped with the engine to function at high altitudes, and in cold conditions such as the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire's White Mountains , where the engine was first tested. The engine featured an electronically controlled afterburner , a system that dumped additional fuel into the combustor pipe 'behind' the engine, reheating the exhaust and producing significantly more thrust, although with greatly reduced efficiency and high fuel burn rates. The engine production process in
104-658: The Air National Guard retired the jet-boosted KC-97Js. Despite this, these engines are still extensively utilized in F-86 Sabre jets owned by civilians, making them a common sight at air shows. The J47 design used experience from the TG-180/J35 engine which was described by Flight magazine in 1948 as the most widely used American-conceived turbojet. The turbojet featured a revolutionary anti-icing system where hollow frame struts allowed heated airflow to pass through from
117-530: The J47-GE-23 was rated to run 225 hours time between overhauls . As installed on the F-86F, it experienced one in-flight shutdown every 33,000 hours in 1955 and 1956. Ground-based vehicles that used the engine include: In the 1950s, interest in the development of nuclear-powered aircraft led GE to experiment with two nuclear-powered gas turbine designs, one based on the J47, and another new and much larger engine called
130-410: The combustion chambers being replaced by a nuclear reactor where half of the total air-flow through the turbojet sections was used for direct-cycle cooling of the reactor. The J87 components featured variable-stator compressors and chemically-fuelled afterburners and a single nuclear reactor to supply heat to both J87 engines. Several arrangements for the X211 were studied but eventually the paired J87
143-412: The program not been cancelled, these engines would have been used to power the proposed Convair X-6 . Data from Related development Comparable engines Related lists General Electric J87 The General Electric J87 was a nuclear-powered turbojet engine designed to power the proposed WS-125 long-range bomber. The program was started in 1955 in conjunction with Convair for
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#1732852019691156-454: Was chosen and development was started at General Electrics Evendale factory. The air by-passed around the XMA-1A nuclear reactor passed through can style combustion chambers arranged around the core, used for starting, burning normal jet fuel to ensure cooling air flow for the reactor as soon as it was started-up. The reactor core sat in the middle of the combustion section, fed with cooling air from
169-499: Was its array of features which were unavailable and unprecedented in any other engine. It was advertised as an 'all-weather engine' due to its anti-icing systems which allowed it to perform at high altitudes and extreme temperatures where other aircraft's performance suffered. Its development began without an explicit need for it, although this design was quickly purchased by the military for its many potential benefits. In 1978, J47s were formally withdrawn from active military duty when
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