Allison T61

Last updated
T61 / 550-B1
Type Turboprop
National originUnited States
Manufacturer Allison Engine Company
Major applicationsLockheed GL-207 Super Hercules
StatusCanceled
Number built4

The Allison T61 (known internally as the Allison 550-B1) [1] was a 6,500-shaft-horsepower (4,800-kilowatt) turboprop engine that was to power the 1959 version of the proposed Lockheed Super Hercules military and civil freight aircraft. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) had helped Allison fund the development of the T61 for four years. Lockheed had received orders from Pan American World Airways and Slick Airways for a total of 18 aircraft, but both orders were contingent on the military ordering the aircraft by September 30, 1959, around the date that the USAF's engine development contract expired. [2] The development contract was extended temporarily to November 30, 1959, but the T61 development effort was canceled by January 1960, after USD$37.5 million had been put into the engine's development. [3] Four T61 engines had run on the test stand at the time of cancellation. [2]

Contents

The Allison T61 produced 6,500 equivalent shp (4,800 kW) at takeoff, of which 6,102 shp (4,550 kW) came from the propeller, with 995 pounds (451 kg) of residual jet thrust. It had a similar appearance to the Allison T56 but with a split compressor section instead of a single stage. The T61 improved on the power-to-weight ratio of the T56 by 30%. [2] The Air Force had also given Allison's Aeroproducts Operations division a USD $4 million contract to develop a 16+12 ft diameter (5.0 m), four-bladed propeller to use on the T61-powered Super Hercules. [4]

Specifications

Data from Aviation Week, October 5, 1959, page 30 [2] and the 1960 Aerospace Year Book, page 91 [5] : 91 and 375 [5] : 375

General characteristics

Components

Performance

See also

Related Research Articles

Napier Nomad British diesel aircraft engine

The Napier Nomad is a British diesel aircraft engine designed and built by Napier & Son in 1949. They combined a piston engine with a turbine to recover energy from the exhaust and thereby improve fuel economy. Two versions were tested, the complex Nomad I which used two propellers, each driven by the mechanically independent stages, and the Nomad II, using the turbo-compound principle, coupled the two parts to drive a single propeller. The Nomad II had the lowest specific fuel consumption figures seen up to that time. Despite this the Nomad project was cancelled in 1955 having spent £5.1 million on development, as most interest had passed to turboprop designs.

Rolls-Royce T406 Rolls-Royce North America turboshaft aircraft engine (1986)

The Rolls-Royce T406 is a turboshaft engine that powers the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The engine delivers 6,000 shp (4,470 kW).

Europrop TP400

The Europrop International TP400-D6 is an 11,000 shp (8,200 kW) powerplant, developed and produced by Europrop International for the Airbus A400M Atlas military transport aircraft. The TP400 is the most powerful single-rotation turboprop in service; only the contra-rotating Kuznetsov NK-12 is larger.

Rolls-Royce AE 2100

The Rolls-Royce AE 2100 is a turboprop developed by Allison Engine Company, now part of Rolls-Royce North America. The engine was originally known as the GMA 2100, when Allison was a division of former corporate parent General Motors.

Antonov An-70 Ukrainian/Russian military transport aircraft prototype by Antonov

The Antonov An-70 is a four-engine medium-range transport aircraft, and the first aircraft to take flight powered only by propfan engines. It was developed in the late 1980s by the Antonov Design Bureau to replace the obsolete An-12 military transport aircraft. The maiden flight of the first prototype took place in December 1994 in Kyiv, now independent Ukraine. Within months the prototype had suffered a mid-air collision. A second airframe was produced to allow the flight-test programme to proceed. Both prototypes were produced by the Kyiv Aircraft Production Plant.

Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 Aircraft engine family

The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 aircraft engine family is a series of 1,800 to 5,000 shaft horsepower turboprops manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Pratt & Whitney Canada dominates the turboprops market with 89% of the turboprop regional airliner installed base in 2016, leading GE Aviation and Allison Engine Company.

Allison T56 American-built military turboprop (1954–)

The Allison T56 is an American single-shaft, modular design military turboprop with a 14-stage axial flow compressor driven by a four-stage turbine. It was originally developed by the Allison Engine Company for the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport entering production in 1954. It has been a Rolls-Royce product since 1995 when Allison was acquired by Rolls-Royce. The commercial version is designated 501-D. Over 18,000 engines have been produced since 1954, logging over 200 million flying hours.

Rolls-Royce Tyne 1950s British turboprop aircraft engine

The Rolls-Royce RB.109 Tyne is a twin-shaft turboprop engine developed in the mid to late 1950s by Rolls-Royce Limited to a requirement for the Vickers Vanguard airliner. It was first test flown during 1956 in the nose of a modified Avro Lincoln. Following company naming convention for gas turbine engines this turboprop design was named after the River Tyne.

Progress D-27 Propfan engine

The Progress D-27 is a three-shaft propfan engine developed by Ivchenko Progress. The gas generator was designed using experience from the Lotarev D-36 turbofan. The D-27 engine was designed to power more-efficient passenger aircraft such as the abandoned Yakovlev Yak-46 project, and it was chosen for the Antonov An-70 military transport aircraft. As of 2019, the D-27 is the only contra-rotating propfan engine to enter service.

General Electric GE38

The General Electric GE38 is a gas turbine developed by GE Aviation for turboprop and turboshaft applications. It powers the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion as the T408.

Allison T40

The Allison T40, company designation Allison Model 500, was an early American turboprop engine composed of two Allison T38 power sections driving a contra-rotating propeller via a common gearbox.

Douglas C-132

The Douglas C-132 was an American military transport aircraft proposed in the 1950s by the Douglas Aircraft Company, based on the company's C-124 Globemaster II. The C-132 would have been the largest aircraft of its era.

Honeywell T55 Family of turboprop aircraft engines

The Honeywell T55 is a turboshaft engine used on American helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft since the 1950s, and in unlimited hydroplanes since the 1980s. Today, there have been more than 6,000 of these engines built. It is produced by Honeywell Aerospace, a division of Honeywell based in Phoenix, Arizona, and was originally designed by the Turbine Engine Division of Lycoming Engines in Stratford, Connecticut, as a scaled-up version of the smaller Lycoming T53. Both engines are now produced by Honeywell Aerospace, and the T55 serves as the engine on several major applications including the CH-47-Chinook, the Bell 309, and the Piper PA-48 Enforcer. The T55 also serves as the core of the Lycoming ALF 502 turbofan. Since the T55 was first developed, progressive increases in airflow, overall pressure ratio, and turbine inlet temperature have more than tripled the power output of the engine.

Pratt & Whitney/Allison 578-DX

The Pratt & Whitney/Allison 578-DX was an experimental aircraft engine, a hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop known as a propfan. The engine was designed in the 1980s to power proposed propfan aircraft such as the Boeing 7J7 and the MD-91 and MD-92 derivatives of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80. As of 2019, it is still one of only four different contra-rotating propfan engines to have flown in service or in flight testing.

The Douglas 1211-J was a bomber aircraft design developed by American aircraft manufacturer Douglas to compete with the Boeing B-52 design for a major United States Air Force contract between 1946 and 1954. The Model 1211-J design was 160 feet long with a wingspan of 227 feet, and was powered by four turboprop engines. The aircraft was designed around a new 43,000-pound conventional bomb but could carry nuclear weapons as well. It could also carry its own fighter escorts, as parasites under its wings. These fighters' jet engines were to be powered up to assist the carrier bomber during takeoff; refueling of the fighters was to take place while they were stowed on the mothership's underwing pylons.

Progress D-236 Propfan engine

The Progress D-236 was an experimental aircraft engine, a hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop known as a propfan. Also known as the Lotarev D-236T, the three-shaft geared engine was designed in the 1980s and 1990s to power proposed propfan aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-334, Ilyushin Il-118, and Ilyushin Il-88.

Pratt & Whitney XT57

The Pratt & Whitney XT57 was an axial-flow turboprop engine developed by Pratt & Whitney in the mid-1950s. The XT57 was developed from the Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet.

Allison T56 variants Range of American turboprop aircraft engines

The Allison T56 turboprop engine has been developed extensively throughout its production run, the many variants are described by the manufacturer as belonging to four main series groups.

Lotarev D-136 Turboshaft helicopter engine

The Lotarev D-136 is a turboshaft engine from the ZMKB Progress Design Bureau. The engine powers the Mil Mi-26 "Halo" helicopter. Development of the engine had begun in about 1972.. The D-136 first flew on a production Mi-26 helicopter in 1980.

The Allison T78 was a turboprop engine that first ran in March 1965. It used a regenerator that recovered and reused exhaust heat to reduce fuel consumption.

References

  1. "Cherington foresees airline fare cuts". Aviation Week . Vol. 70, no. 16. Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. April 20, 1959. pp. 40–41. ISSN   0005-2175.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Contract end clouds T61 future". Aviation Week . Vol. 71, no. 14. Washington, D.C., U.S.A. October 5, 1959. p. 33. ISSN   0005-2175.
  3. "Air Force cancels T61 development program". Aviation Week . Vol. 72, no. 2. Washington, D.C., U.S.A. January 11, 1960. p. 30. ISSN   0005-2175.
  4. "Air Force awards $4,000,000 propeller contract to A. O." AllisoNews. Vol. 18, no. 51. June 26, 1959. p. 1. OCLC   42343144.
  5. 1 2 Hannaum, George (1960). The 1960 Aerospace Year Book (PDF) (41st ed.). American Aviation Publications, Inc. OCLC   317228872.

Bibliography