Westinghouse J34

The Westinghouse J34, company designation Westinghouse 24C, was a turbojet engine developed by Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division in the late 1940s. Essentially an enlarged version of the earlier Westinghouse J30, the J34 produced 3,000 pounds of thrust, twice as much as the J30. Later models produced as much as 4,900 lb with the addition of an afterburner. It first flew in 1947. The J46 engine was developed as a larger, more powerful version of Westinghouse's J34 engine, about 50% larger.

Development

Built in an era of rapidly advancing gas turbine engine technology, the J34 was largely obsolete before it saw service, and often served as an interim engine."F6U Pirate." globalsecurity.org. Retrieved: 29 May 2015. For instance, the Douglas X-3 Stiletto was equipped with two J34 engines when the intended Westinghouse J46 engine proved to be unsuitable. The Stiletto was developed to investigate the design of an aircraft at sustained supersonic speeds. However, equipped with the J34 instead of its intended engines, it was seriously underpowered and could not exceed Mach 1 in level flight."Douglas X-3 Stiletto," shanaberger.com. Retrieved: 29 May 2015.

Developed during the transition from piston-engined aircraft to jets, the J34 was sometimes fitted to aircraft as a supplement to other powerplants, as with the Lockheed P-2 Neptune and Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket (fitted with radial piston engines and a rocket engine, respectively).

The afterburner was developed by Solar Aircraft, the first U.S. company to produce a practical afterburner.

Variants Thrust given in foot-pounds (lbf) and kilonewtons (kN).

Applications Aircraft

Others Shockwave jet truck Snowzilla snow remover Spirit of Australia jet boat

Engines on display A Westinghouse J34 is on public display at the Aerospace Museum of California.

Specifications (J34-WE-36)

Westinghouse J34

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