Jet Web: CONNECTIONS in the Development History of Turbojet Engines 1920 - 1950

748 Pages·2023·25.78 MB·English

by  Dietrich Eckardt

Dietrich Eckardt
Jet Web
CONNECTIONS in the Development History
of Turbojet Engines 1920 - 1950
Jet Web
Dietrich Eckardt
Jet Web
CONNECTIONS in the Development History
of Turbojet Engines 1920 - 1950
DietrichEckardt
München,Germany
ISBN978-3-658-38530-9 ISBN978-3-658-38531-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38531-6
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Foreword
Withoutdoubt,theturbojetengineisoneofthegreatesttechnologicalachievementsofthe
twentieth century—both in technical and societal perspective. Never before had mass
transportation flight been possible at such speeds and over transcontinental distances.
Modernjettransportwithitshighspeed,safety,andeconomicalimpacthasfundamentally
altered the conceptsof traveland mobility. Methods of communication haveaccordingly
changed, as have business operations. A lasting success story: Taking just the past two
decades,theglobaleconomy,measuredintermsofgrossdomesticproduct,grewat2.8%
annually,whiletheworldpassengerairtraffic,expressedinrevenuepassengerkilometres,
increased at an average annual growth rate of 5.0%. Consequently, under changing
priorities, the fight to reduce the impact of global air traffic on climate change implies
enormouschallengesforthejetindustryintheenvisagedtimeframeupto2050.
Like many preceding and following future engineering developments, the decisive
advance of gas turbine propulsion, in the words of historian Edward Constant II The
Turbojet Revolution (1980), was driven by military needs on the eve of the Second
World War. Like nuclear bomb and radar, the turbojet aircrafts and engines belonged to
the category of radical innovations that profited from military funded programmes. Its
breakthrough,however,wasonlyachievedafterthe1960s,whencivilairtravelbeganto
skyrocket.
Accordingtoconventionalhistoriographyoftechnology,alreadyinthelate1920sFrank
Whittlepioneeredtheturbojetdevelopment;theninduecourse,andunawareoftheworks
in England, Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain followed after 1936 at the Ernst Heinkel
Flugzeugwerke. ‘Jet Web’ deviates from this established, as we know in the meantime,
somewhat constructed ‘dual inventor narrative’ of early turbojet engine developments.
Correspondingly,theauthorDietrichEckardt,aprofessionalturbojetengineer,andinthe
meantime awarded engineer-historian for his foregoing book Gas Turbine Powerhouse
(2014),hasconsiderablyexpandedtheinternationalscopeofthemainhistoricalactorsof
this fascinating story, but included also many, so far overlooked, connections between
them.Inaddition,hedeepenedourunderstandingoftheturbojetenginedevelopmentupto
and beyond the end of WW II, by connecting it to parallel scientific developments and
v
vi Foreword
technological innovations, such as industrial gas turbines, emerging numerical methods,
andturbochargers,tonameafew.
The Turbojet Revolution can only be fully understood in light of the foregoing—in
hindsight rather short—era of reciprocating aero engines. After the first four decades of
poweredflight,furthertechnicalrefinementwasonlypossibleunderincreasinglycumber-
some endeavour.Thetechnologyofthatclass ofaircrafthadreached aplateauwithlittle
prospectofmajorimprovementsinthefuture.Undertheseauspicestheradicalinnovation
of the jet engine, based on the scientific achievement of aeronautical research of the
interwarperiodandaspecificproductionregimeduringWorldWarII,allowedforanew
level of technological performance: The specific engine power (thrust) more than
duplicated—at a stunning flight speed surplus in comparison to the established propeller
propulsion systems—and considerably reduced manufacturing cost, time, and demand in
fuelquality.
Overfourdecadesfrom1920to1960,JetWebunfoldsafascinatingpanoramaofoften
surprisingsocialandtechnologicalrelationsandconnections—totheedificationofexperi-
enced,andtheinspirationoffutureengineers,and—hopefully—themillionsofvisitorsto
ourglobalnetworkofmuseumsofscienceandtechnology.
DeutschesMuseum Prof.Dr.-Ing.HelmuthTrischler
München,Germany
June2022
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(cid:129) Author and Springer Verlag thank the various copyright owners for the permission of
reprint.
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thecopyrightholderstookplace;thefiguresourcesareprovidedinanycase.Potential
copyrightownersareaskedtocontacttheauthor.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 GasTurbine/TurbojetTimelineUpto1930. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.1 TheLead-Upto1900. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 TheGasTurbinePreparationPhase1900–1930. . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 JetWebTimelineinParallel1931–1945. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.2.1 TurbomachineryandAero-RelatedActivitiesUpto1935. . . . 41
2.2.2 EarlyTurbojetDevelopments1935–1939. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.2.3 TheWarYears1940–1945. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.3 GasTurbine/TurbojetTimelineforthePost-WarPeriod1946–1950. . 68
3 ExcursionI:MaxKoenig(1893–1975)andClaudeSeippel
(1900–1986). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4 TurbomachineryandAero-RelatedActivitiesatBBCandin
InternationalContextupto1935. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.1 BrownBoveri&Cie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.1.1 TheFoundersandTheirWorks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.1.2 EarlyTurbomachineryandTurbochargers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.1.3 ThePathfromAerofoiltoFirstAxialCompressor. . . . . . . . . 120
4.1.4 FirstAxialTurbo-ProductsandWindTunnelBlowers. . . . . . 131
4.2 A.A.GriffithandEarlyBritishActivitiesTowardsAeroGas
Turbines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
4.2.1 A‘Scandal’ToStartWith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
4.2.2 Griffith’sSecretReportsof1926and1929. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
4.2.3 GriffithandWhittle:APatentConflict?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
4.3 UpToHighAltitude:TheGermanNewFrontier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.3.1 ThinkingtheUnthinkable:PoisonGasBombing. . . . . . . . . . 157
4.3.2 TheAltitudeAircraftDevelopments:FromJu49
ToJu86R.. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . 163
4.3.3 TheAVAGoettingenandTheAxial-FlowCompressor. . . . . 175
ix
x Contents
5 ExcursionII:FritzHeppner(1904–1982)andHellmutWeinrich
(1909–1988). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
6 ‘Connections’andEarlyTurbo-JetDevelopments1935–1939. . . . . . . . . 247
6.1 InternationalInformationExchange/Transfer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
6.1.1 TheDawningofaNewTechnicalAge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
6.1.2 TooGoodtoBeTrue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
6.1.3 Berlin,11–15October1938Or:CircusLilienthalAt
TheZooPalace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
6.1.4 AnotherBookletandaCartoon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
6.2 EarlyAxialTurbojetDevelopmentsinGermany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
6.2.1 HerbertWagnerandHisAxialEngineDesigns. . . . . . . . . . . 287
6.2.2 HansvonOhain,GoingRadialatHeinkel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
6.2.3 TheRLMTurbojetProgrammeandItsManagement. . . . . . . 311
6.2.4 InitiatingtheBMW003Turbojet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
6.2.5 StartoftheJunkersJumo004TurbojetDevelopment. . . . . . 332
6.3 EarlyTurbojetDevelopmentsinGreatBritain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
6.3.1 ThroughAdversitytoTheStars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
6.3.2 TheEmergingSwissConnection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
6.3.3 RoyalAircraftEstablishment,MetrovickandBrown
Boveri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
6.3.4 ThePowerGasTurbineRe-Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
6.3.5 LondonCalling.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
6.4 EarlyTurbojetDevelopmentsintheUSAandOtherCountries. . . . . . 380
6.4.1 PioneeringUSTurbojets:ADifficultDelivery. . . . . . . . . . . 380
6.4.2 BBC:AttheCradleofUSTurbojets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
6.4.3 TheAeronauticalImpactofHoudry100OctaneFuel. . . . . . 394
6.4.4 G.JendrassikandtheFirstTurbopropEngine:From
Hungary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
7 ExcursionIII:HelmutSchelp(1912–1994)andMaxAdolfMueller
(1901–1962). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
7.1 HelmutSchelp’sYouthUpTo1935. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
7.2 TheMakingofa‘Flugbaumeister’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
7.3 FurtherTheoreticalWorkandProgrammeStructuring. . . . . . . . . . . . 431
7.4 MauchandSchelp:AtandOffRLMAfter1939. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
7.5 TheTalented,ButUnsteadyMaxAdolfMueller(1901–1962). . . . . . 452
8 TheWarYears1940–1945. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
8.1 GermanTurbojetEngineDevelopmentsandRelatedActivities. . . . . . 465
8.1.1 TheJunkersJumo109-004DevelopmentandProduction
Programme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
8.1.2 TheBMW109-003DevelopmentandProduction
Programme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
8.1.3 TheHeinkelHeS011DevelopmentProgramme.... ...... 502
Contents xi
8.1.4 SummaryofGermanTurbojetEngineDevelopments. . . . . . . 513
8.2 BritishTurbojetEngineDevelopments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
8.2.1 APhoneyWaronTurbojetPropulsion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
8.2.2 RAE:FromMetrovicktoRolls-RoyceandArmstrong
Siddeley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
8.2.3 AlanGriffithatRolls-Royce:AMediocreBalance
UpTo1945. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
8.2.4 FritzHeppneratASM:TheRiseandFallofaGerman
Wunder-Engineer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
8.3 BBCAeroGasTurbineActivitiesandDerivatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
8.3.1 BrownBoveri:AClassicinBusinessAdministration. . . . . . . 559
8.3.2 SwissBrownBoveriTurbopropDesignExercises. . . . . . . . . 563
8.3.3 AltitudeTestFacilitiesfromBrownBoveriMannheim. . . . . 566
8.3.4 BBCSupporttoTankGasTurbinesandanAero
Derivative. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 571
8.3.5 RegeneratedAeroGasTurbineDevelopments. . . . . . . . . . . . 585
9 ExcursionIV:HermannReuter(1911–1981)andHermannOestrich
(1903–1973). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
9.1 HermannReuter,aManofHiddenQualities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
9.2 HermannOestrich,aCleverEngineer,AlwaysReadyinTime. . . . . . 608
9.3 GroupeO:enmarche. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
9.4 ATAR:AndItsTechnologyAncestors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
10 ThePost-WarPeriod1946–1955. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
10.1 GreatBritain:AnIndustrialHeadStart,StillGoingRadial. . . . . . . . . 637
10.2 GermanAeronauticalTechnologyTransfertotheAllies. . . . . . . . . . . 646
10.2.1 BuildingonGermanAchievementsintheSoviet-Union. . . . . 646
10.2.2 BuildingonGermanAchievementsintheWest. . . . . . . . . . . 656
10.3 Switzerland:InSearchofItsPost-WarPossibilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
10.3.1 SwissTurbojetEngineandAircraftAwakening. . . . . . . . . . 662
10.3.2 BBC/C.E.M./SOCEMA:GoingAero. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
10.4 HermannOestrich:TakingCareofHisPeopleandHimself. . . . . . . . 675
11 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
12 Attachments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
12.1 OnAeroPropulsionPatents1930–1950. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
12.1.1 HansvonOhain’sSecretTurbojetPatents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
12.1.2 OtherPatents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
12.2 ConventionoftheLilienthalSocietyforAeronauticalResearche.V.,
Berlin12–15October1938,ListofSelectedParticipants. . . . . . . . . . 700
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729