The first GE engines used a radial — also called centrifugal — turbine to compress air streaming inside the engine and help it generate thrust. It was similar in design to older technology GE was using for turbo superchargers. Back at Lynn, Sorota started working on an engine with an axial turbine that pushed air through the engine along its axis. “The Whittle engine, when we took apart the compressor, was like a vacuum cleaner compressor,” he says. “It had a two-sided impeller that was very inefficient. Our engineers developed what now is known as the axial flow compressor.” This compressor is being used in practically every modern jet engine and gas turbine today.
