Westinghouse J46
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The Westinghouse J46 is an
afterburning An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and combat ...
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, and ...
engine developed by the
Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division The Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division (AGT) was established by Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945 to continue the development and production of its turbo-jet gas turbine engines for aircraft propulsion under contract to the US Navy ...
for the United States Navy in the 1950s. It was primarily employed in powering the
Convair F2Y Sea Dart The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was an American seaplane fighter aircraft that rode on twin hydro-skis during takeoff and landing. It flew only as a prototype, and never entered mass production. It is the only seaplane to have exceeded the speed of so ...
and
Vought F7U Cutlass The Vought F7U Cutlass is a United States Navy carrier-based jet fighter and fighter-bomber of the early Cold War era. It was a tailless aircraft for which aerodynamic data from projects of the German Arado and Messerschmitt companies, obtain ...
. The engine also powered the land speed-record car known as the
Wingfoot Express The Wingfoot Express was Walt Arfons and Tom Green's jet-powered land speed record car, driven by Green to a record on October 2, 1964, after Walt suffered a heart attack just prior. The Express was powered by a Westinghouse J46 engine and hit th ...
, designed by
Walt Arfons Walter Charles Arfons (December 10, 1916 – June 4, 2013) was the half brother of Art Arfons, his former partner in drag racing, and his competitor in jet-powered land speed record racing. Along with Art, he was a pioneer in the use of aircr ...
and
Tom Green Michael Thomas Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian-American comedian, show host, actor, filmmaker, podcaster, and rapper. After pursuing stand-up comedy and music as a young adult, Green created and hosted ''The Tom Green Show'', which a ...
It was intended to power the F3D-3, an improved,
swept-wing A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigat ...
variant of the
Douglas F3D Skyknight The Douglas F3D Skyknight (later designated F-10 Skyknight) is an American twin-engined, mid-wing jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California. The F3D was designed as a carrier-based all-weath ...
, although this airframe was never built.


Design and development

The J46 engine was developed as a larger, more powerful version of Westinghouse's J34 engine, about 50% larger. The Westinghouse model number was a continuation of the "X24C" series of the J34. The model number assigned was X24C10, even though the J46 differed in many design features from the smaller J34. It was seen as a lower development risk than the
Westinghouse J40 The Westinghouse J40 was an early high-performance afterburning turbojet engine designed by Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division starting in 1946 to a US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) request. BuAer intended to use the design in severa ...
which was in parallel development at the same time. The development program ran into many problems with this engine, including the original electronic control system, compressor/turbine mismatches, combustion instability and control issues at altitude leading to compressor stalling The produced -8, -8A and -8B engines were all derated from the original design specification on both thrust and specific fuel consumption.Aero Engines 1954 (1954). ''Flight''. 9 Apr 1954. pg 461
/ref> The engine's 12-stage compressor was driven by two turbine stages on a single shaft. Early development engines included a simple "eyelid" afterburner, actuated by control rods that ran the length of the engine. By the time the engine reached production, the rear nozzle had an iris-type "petal" design. The same long control rods now pushed or pulled a ring that ran on rollers, which in turn opened or closed the iris. The original design, using an electronic control system, would have allowed continuous adjustment of afterburner thrust from minimum to maximum. This was abandoned when the electronic control could not be made acceptably reliable; the final afterburner was an "ON/OFF" unit.


Variants

;J46-WE-2: ;J46-WE-3: 3,980 lbf (18.15 kN) thrustRou
2007, pp. 237–238.
/ref> Was to be used the
Douglas X-3 Stiletto The Douglas X-3 Stiletto was a 1950s United States experimental jet aircraft with a slender fuselage and a long tapered nose, manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Its primary mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraf ...
. Failed to exit testing due to thrust shortfalls. ;J46-WE-4/-10: 3,980 lbf (20.02 kN) thrust The non-A/B version of the J46-WE-2/-8B. Intended for the Douglas F3D-3 SkyKnight but did not go into production because of schedule slippage and the F3D-3 cancellation. ;J46-WE-8: 3,980 lbf (20.46 kN) (5,800 lbf (27.13 kN) thrust with afterburner) This variant powered both the F7U-3 and F7U-3M, the missile-capable Cutlass. ;J46-WE-8A:This variant powered the F7U-3 Cutlass and produced 5,500/5,800 lbf of A/B thrust. All -8A engines were upgraded to the -8B build standard after being produced. ;J46-WE-8B:The F7U-3 was equipped with two J46-WE-8B turbojets giving a 680 mph (1,095 km/h) max speed. This variant also powered the Harvey Hustler, a speed boat designed to go faster than 275 mph. ;J46-WE-12:This variant powered the
F2Y Sea Dart The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was an American seaplane fighter aircraft that rode on twin hydro-skis during takeoff and landing. It flew only as a prototype, and never entered mass production. It is the only seaplane to have exceeded the speed of so ...
hydroski aircraft. Basically identical to the -8/-8B, the aircraft was equipped with a fresh water spray system that flushed salt deposits out of the engine before takeoff and after shutdown.Aero Engines 1956 (1956). ''Flight''. 11 May 1956, p. 596
/ref> ;J46-WE-18:This variant produced an increased 6,100 lbf (27.1 kN) of A/B thrust for the proposed A2U-1 attack aircraft, an attack variant of the
F7U The Vought F7U Cutlass is a United States Navy carrier-based jet fighter and fighter-bomber of the early Cold War era. It was a tailless aircraft for which aerodynamic data from projects of the German Arado and Messerschmitt companies, obtai ...
. This variant was canceled with the aircraft program.Westinghouse J46 Axial Turbojet Family, Paul Christiansen, Bleeg Publishing, 2016.


Applications

*
Convair F2Y Sea Dart The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was an American seaplane fighter aircraft that rode on twin hydro-skis during takeoff and landing. It flew only as a prototype, and never entered mass production. It is the only seaplane to have exceeded the speed of so ...
*
Douglas X-3 Stiletto The Douglas X-3 Stiletto was a 1950s United States experimental jet aircraft with a slender fuselage and a long tapered nose, manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Its primary mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraf ...
(intended) *
Vought F7U Cutlass The Vought F7U Cutlass is a United States Navy carrier-based jet fighter and fighter-bomber of the early Cold War era. It was a tailless aircraft for which aerodynamic data from projects of the German Arado and Messerschmitt companies, obtain ...


Surviving engines

*
Carolinas Aviation Museum The Carolinas Aviation Museum is an aviation museum on the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is one of a few aviation museums located at an airport which serves as a major hub (Charlotte is the ...
, - four units in storage, three came from Florida. Also have two afterburner units, not attached to engines. *
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum The Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum (WOTR) is located on the former Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado, United States. The museum preserves the history of Lowry AFB's operations from 1938 to 1994 in its collections, archives, and ...
, - two units including ''a -8'' cutaway on display (see photo above) * Project Cutlass, Phoenix Arizona, - six units, including two airworthy engines with afterburners * Hiller Aviation Museum, cutaway exhibit engine * Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Exhibit 1971-0911, J46-WE-8B, Serial WE405773, 15 total running hours, including acceptance testing and 3 flights in an F7U-3. In storage. * Green Mamba dragster owned by Doug Rose in Tampa, Florida *No -1, -2, -3, -5, -12 or -18 engines are known to exist


Specifications (J46-WE-8)


See also


References


Notes


Bibliography

* Roux, Élodie. ''Turbofan and Turbojet Engines: Database Handbook''. Raleigh, North Carolina: Éditions Élodie Roux, 2007. . {{USAF gas turbine engines 1950s turbojet engines J46