GE I-A WHITTLE GAS TURBINE ENGINE

GENERAL ELECTRIC CORP: TYPE I-A CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR TURBOJET, SINGLE SHAFT ENGINE

This display shows one of the earliest examples of a gas turbine (turbojet) engine. Designed in England by Frank Whittle, the engine utilizes a centrifugal type compressor to drive air into a combustion chamber. This air, combined with fuel (usually kerosene) burned continuously, and at a constant pressure, to drive a turbine. All the energy was used to propel the engine by direct reaction (less turbine return) with the hot gases being accelerated through profiled nozzles.

 Engineers in Germany and Britain's Frank Whittle had, quite independently of each other, worked on developing the turbojet concept in the mid-1930s. In 1941, GE received its first contract from the U.S. Army Air Corps to build a gas turbine engine based on the British design. On October 1, 1941, GE’s Supercharger Department in Lynn, Mass received a Whittle W.1X turbojet in crates, as well as drawings for an upgraded version, the Whittle W.2B. The W.1X was flown from Scotland concealed in the bomb bay of a B-24 Liberator.

The selection of GE was based on the company’s innovative impellers, turbines, turbo-superchargers, and compressors, which were developed mostly in GE’s Lynn, Mass and Schenectady, NY operations.

The GE engine, Type I-A, a centrifugal flow design with a two-sided impeller, was similar in many ways to a GE piston engine-fitted turbo-supercharger. The team successfully ran the Type I-A in April 1942 in Lynn’s historic “Fort Knox” test cell. But the engine stalled. The team went back to their drawings, redesigned the compressor and started achieving higher thrust.

On October 1, 1942, America’s first jet aircraft, the Bell XP-59A Airacomet, fitted with two I-A engines, achieved the first low-altitude flights at Muroc Army Air Field, in California’s Mojave Desert (today’s Edwards Air Force Base).

The thrust rating of the Type I-A is 1,250 pounds. The GE90-115B, the world’s largest and most powerful jet engine today, can produce 127,900 pounds of thrust, over 100 times as great as the Type I-A.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Type: Centrifugal compressor turbojet, single shaft Length: 70.5 in. (1791 mm)
Diameter: 44 in. (1118 mm)
Dry weight: 780 lbs. (354 kg)
Compressor: Single-stage double-sided centrifugal
Combustors: 10 reverse-flow cans
Turbine: Single-stage axial
Fuel type: Kerosene
Performance: Maximum thrust: 1,250 lbs. (5.56 kN)

The engine on display here, owned by the Combat Air Museum, is one of only 12 GE-built I-A Whittle Engines believed still in existence today