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The J47 engine became the first jet engine certified for commercial aviation — the jet age was reaching cruising altitude. GE made 35,000 J47s, making it the most produced jet engine in history. But…
Welcome To The Jet Age
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…
Bud Kelley was one of the first American jet pilots. Image credit: Museum of Innovation and Science Schenectady
In the summer of 1942, 10 months after they started, the engineers loaded the first pair of working jet engines, each producing 1,300 pounds of thrust, onto a railcar and shipped them to the …
Airplane designed Larry Bell is climbing into the cockpit of the XP-59, the first U.S.-made jet. Image credit: Museum of Innovation and Science Schenectady
They went back to their drawings, redesigned the compressor and started achieving higher thrust. Fort Knox, as well as the smokestack, still stands. Today, a small bronze plaque commemorates the feat.
Sir Frank Whittle, wearing a hat in the middle, is talking to GE engineers. Whittle is recognized as the inventor of the jet engine, along with Germany’s Hans von Ohain. They developed their first…
First Fire