Object Details
- Manufacturer
- General Electric Co.
- Designer
- Sir Frank Whittle
- Physical Description
- Type: Turbojet
- Thrust: 7,161 N (1,610 lb) at 16,500 rpm
- Compressor: Single-stage centrifugal
- Combustor: 10 reverse-flow combustion chambers
- Turbine: Single-stage axial
- Weight: 386 kg (850 lb)
- Summary
- Early flight tests of the first General Electric turbojet engine, the Type I-A, clearly showed the need for more power. GE followed with designs generating increased thrust, including the I-16, designated J31 by the military, which first ran in April 1943. About 250 were built, mainly for variants of the Bell P-59 Airacomet. This cutaway is representative of the engines installed in the production models of the Bell P-59A fighter aircraft.
- When the government believed that future tactical needs would require turbojet engines to use the same fuel as reciprocating engines, GE further developed the engine for the U.S. Navy as a 100-octane, gasoline-burning version of the standard J31 engine, which normally ran on kerosene fuel. That version, along with a Wright R-1820 piston engine, powered the Ryan FR-1 Fireball, the Navy's first partially jet-powered aircraft.
- Credit Line
- Transferred from the Department of the Navy, Bureau of Aeronautics
- 1943
- Inventory Number
- A19520085000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- PROPULSION-Turbines (Jet)
- Dimensions
- Width 102 cm (40 in.), Height 178 cm (70 in.)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- Location
- Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
- Hangar
- Boeing Aviation Hangar
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A19520085000
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv94ac42c6e-9da8-41ac-b4a1-086f2b929e6e
