Engines of Change

Aircraft engines are the Rodney Dangerfield of aviation history—they get no respect. Think about it: How many articles and books have been published about aero engines? How many have been published, say, about the airmen, units and missions of the Eighth Air Force in World War II? We hope to help correct that oversight.

In “R-2800: Piston-Engine Perfection” (P. 32), Stephan Wilkinson contends that Pratt & Whitney’s reliable radial was the finest piston aero engine ever built. He’s in good company in that contention. Aero engine expert Graham White makes a similar argument in his marvelously detailed R-2800: Pratt & Whitney’s Dependable Masterpiece. Although the R-2800 “didn’t break any new ground,” says White, “it got everything correct.” And after all, isn’t that what makes for a great engine—a winning combination of reliability, performance and ease of maintenance? In the case of the R-2800, that became a war-winning combination, as it powered tens of thousands of Allied aircraft during WWII.

Asked to come up with a top-10 list of his picks for history’s greatest aero engines, White chose five piston power plants and five gas turbine engines. His choices don’t necessarily represent the best aircraft engines ever built, but in each case they reflect something special or groundbreaking.

In addition to the R-2800, his picks for greatest piston engines are (in no particular order):

Rolls-Royce Merlin—White calls it “the most monumental pain in the ass ever,” but says that with the Mark XX Merlin’s redesigned supercharger and resultant increase in horsepower and altitude capability, it became a truly great engine.

Gnome rotary—Although “rotaries were a technological dead end,” they “were far superior at the time regarding power-to-weight ratio,” and this was the first practical rotary aircraft engine.

Wright Flyer engine—Charlie Taylor’s little 4-cylinder power plant only produced about 12 hp and may have been “the worst aircraft engine ever built,” but White gives it kudos for obvious reasons.

Curtiss D-12—A “breakthrough engine” that “set the stage for all design parameters of liquid-cooled engines from then on.”

In the gas turbine category, White singles out:

General Electric J47—“The first mass-produced U.S.-built axial-flow engine,” which would make the list “just based on sheer numbers manufactured.”

Pratt & Whitney J57/JT3C—Leonard Hobbs won the 1952 Collier Trophy for designing this “very successful axial-flow engine,” used in the Boeing B-52 and 707.

Rolls-Royce Dart—“The world’s first successful turboprop engine,” a centrifugal-flow power plant designed during WWII and manufactured through the ’80s in India.

P&W J58—The engine that propelled Lockheed’s amazing SR-71 “rewrote the rule book on what you can do with a gas turbine.”

GE TF39—“The first high-bypass gas turbine” featured “great specific fuel economy,” allowing economical commercial airline travel we now take for granted.

Of course, any list like this is bound to leave out plenty of top contenders. A few also-rans include the Hispano-Suiza V-8, Curtiss Wright R-3350, Pratt & Whitney R-4360, Junkers Jumo 004 and Allison T56 turboprop. Readers are invited to submit their own picks. Look for more articles on top aero engines in future issues. Oh, and don’t overlook C.V. Glines’ excellent profile of “Gabby” Gabreski in this issue (P. 24). After all, you can’t have too many articles about great Eighth Air Force pilots.

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