The General Electric J47

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...

(GE company designation TG-190) was developed by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

from its earlier J35. It first flew in May 1948. The J47 was the first

axial-flow turbojet An axial compressor is a gas compressor that can continuously pressurize gases. It is a rotating, airfoil-based compressor in which the gas or working fluid principally flows parallel to the axis of rotation, or axially. This differs from other ...

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.

Design and development

The J47 design used experience from the TG-180/J35 engine which was described by ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'' magazine in 1948 as the most widely used American-conceived turbojet. 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, the J47-GE-23 was rated to run 225 hours

time between overhaul Time between overhauls (abbreviated as TBO or TBOH) is the manufacturer's recommended number of running hours or calendar time before an aircraft engine or other component requires overhaul. On rotorcraft, many components have recommended or ma ...

s. As installed on the F-86F, it experienced one in-flight shutdown every 33,000 hours in 1955 and 1956.

Variants

;J47-GE-1:(TG-190A) thrust. ;J47-GE-2: (TG-190E) at 7,950 rpm, powered the

North American FJ-2 Fury The North American FJ-2 and FJ-3 Fury are a series of swept-wing carrier-capable fighters for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The FJ-2 resulted from an effort to navalize the North American F-86 Sabre operated by the United State ...

;J47-GE-3:(TG-190A) thrust. ;J47-GE-7:(TG-190B) thrust. ;J47-GE-9:(TG-190B) thrust. ;J47-GE-11:(TG-190C) Powered the Boeing B-47A and B-47B ;J47-GE-13:(TG-190C)Powered the North American F-86E Sabre & North American B-45C tornado ;J47-GE-15: (7E-TG-190C) Powered the North American B-45C tornado ;J47-GE-17: (7E-TG-190D) at 7,950 rpm dry, at 7,950 rpm wet, powered the North American F-86D Sabre ;J47-GE-17B: thrust ;J47-GE-19:(TG-190C) , powered the Convair B-36D & B-36F ;J47-GE-23: (7E-TG-190E) , powered the Boeing B-47B and RB-47B ;J47-GE-25: thrust dry, ( with water injection), powered the Boeing B-47E and RB-47E ;J47-PM-25: (TG-190E) Production by Packard Motor Car Company ;J47-ST-25: (TG-190E) Production by Studebaker Corp. ;J47-GE-27: (TG-190E) thrust, powered the North American F-86F Sabre ;J47-GE-29: (TG-190E) Similar to -27 ;J47-GE-33: thrust, powered the F-86F & F-86K

Applications

Boeing B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...

Boeing KB-50J Superfortress The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...

Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter The Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter is a four-engined, piston-powered United States strategic tanker aircraft based on the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. It replaced the KB-29 and was succeeded by the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. Design and developm ...

* Chase XC-123A *

Convair B-36 Peacemaker The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced Reciprocating engine, piston-engined aircraft ever built. It ...

* Convair NB-36 * Curtiss XF-87 Blackhawk *

Martin XB-51 The Martin XB-51 was an American trijet ground-attack aircraft. It was designed in 1945 and made its maiden flight in 1949. It was originally designed as a bomber for the United States Army Air Forces under specification V-8237-1 and was desig ...

North American B-45 Tornado The North American B-45 Tornado was an early American jet bomber designed and manufactured by aircraft company North American Aviation. It has the distinction of being the first operational jet bomber to enter service with the United States Ai ...

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing ...

* North American F-86D Sabre *

* Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor Ground-based vehicles that used the engine include: * Spirit of America * M-497 Black Beetle jet-powered railcar

Nuclear-powered X39

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 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 the program not been cancelled, these engines would have been used to power the proposed

Convair X-6 The Convair X-6 was a proposed experimental aircraft project to develop and evaluate a nuclear-powered jet aircraft. The project was to use a Convair B-36 bomber as a testbed aircraft, and though one NB-36H was modified during the early stage ...

Specifications (J47-GE-25)

References

* * * http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200590.html

External links

Globalsecurity.org – J47
{{USAF gas turbine engines J47 1940s turbojet engines