Westinghouse J40

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Westinghouse J40 (1952)

The Westinghouse J40 was an American turbojet engine that was developed from 1946 onwards for the Bureau of Aeronautics of the US Navy . It is a single-shaft engine with a 10-stage axial compressor , an annular combustion chamber and an axial turbine.

In June 1947 , a development contract was signed with Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division , a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric . The first prototype ran in November 1948. By spring 1949, development was on schedule. A further development with an afterburner, the J40-WE-8, has started. The engine should power all new Navy fighters, such as the Grumman XF10F , the McDonnell F3H and the Douglas F4D . The Douglas A-3 should also be equipped with the J40, but without an afterburner.

However, it failed to ensure sufficient reliability. The 150-hour endurance test could only be successfully completed in January 1951; with an afterburner, the test could only be passed in August 1952. Vibrations from the compressor were critical. The response time of the engine was also criticized in the flight test, which required around 20 s to transition from idle to full load, which led to problems during the landing approach. At this point, however, the competitor's engines with the same performance but tried and tested were already in use. The project was therefore discontinued in 1955 without any series production.

Technical data (WE-8)

  • Thrust: 32.9 kN, with afterburner 48.5 kN
  • Diameter: 1.02 m
  • Length: 7.62 m
  • Weight: 1580 kg