Flightline: 17/TBA

"user314" (user314) 07/31/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, ge, general electric, geae, GE Aviation

2

4

U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aircraft at Edwards AFB

Edwards AFB, 1958

Back to Edwards, this time to General Electric’s flight test facilities . Parked outside the hangar are a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , North American !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! missile. Also just visible at the far right in back is another F4D, one of the XF4D-1 prototypes being used as a spares donor.

General Electric formed its !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! subsidiary in 1917, initially researching and producing !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It was this expertise that led to GEAE being granted a license to produce Frank Whittle’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! jet engine in the US starting in 1942. By 1944 , an improved version, the I-40 (later called !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) , was powering Lockheed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Though the AAF canceled its contract with GE for further production of the J33 in favor of Allison, GE pressed on with development of jet engines, leading to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was the first axial- flow turbojet approved for use in the US, and which powered many 1st generation jet aircraft. The J47 production run was 30,000 units by 1956, and the design was refined first into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , used solely in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and then into the mighty !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . GE also developed the smaller !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbojet, used in such aircraft as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! / !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Also developed by the company were the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! engines, utilized in many military and civilian helicopters, and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turboshaft, which was developed into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

GEAE later began work on high-bypass !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! engines for the military and civilian markets, including the CF6 used on L1011, DC-10 and 747 airliners, the CF34 used in many regional jets, and, along with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of France under the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! partnership, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! still in widespread use today.

Renamed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 2005, the company still produces many cutting edge afterburning turbofans for military service, including the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , as well as low- and high- bypass turbofans for multiple markets, as well as turboprop and turboshaft engines, and have begun incorporating 3D printing technologies into their manufacturing processes,  

ttyymmnn > user314 07/31/2020 at 11:08

1

Skyray! Another one of my favorites. That thing was a serious hotrod. 

ClassicDatsunDebate > user314 07/31/2020 at 11:19

2

Without the fuel nacelles, the Widowmaker looks even more ridiculous .

175 kt landing speed. :)

user314 > ClassicDatsunDebate 07/31/2020 at 11:22

1

Yeah, the F-104 is one of those planes that was so often seen with tanks, that seeing one without  is just wrong. 

facw > ttyymmnn 07/31/2020 at 11:46

2

The thing that’s strange to me that in an age of X-planes the frankly frumpy looking Skyray managed to snag the airspeed record (granted, the previous two holders, the Supermarine Swift and Hawker Hunter weren’t exactly fast looking planes either)