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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1012.PDF
1010 FLIGHT International, 28 June 1962 Rolls-Royce Avon 203 turbo- jets in final assembly by FN, Belgium AERO ENGINES 1962... Potez 6E-00 SEPR Sociiti d'Etude de la Propulsion par Reaction, Villejuif (Seine). Founded in 1944, SEPR has divisions devoted to solid and liquid rocket engines, and many designs have gone into quantity production for missile and test-vehicle applications. Several types of engine have been developed for aircraft, but only the model described is in produc tion. SEPR 84 Forming a single package requiring only a source of shaft power to the turbopump (provided by the Atar turbojet in the Mirage III), this engine has a single regeneratively cooled thrust chamber which may be automatically controlled to give a sea-level thrust of either 1,650 or 3,3701b. The hypergolic propellants vary according to engine sub-type. Oxidant is concentrated nitric acid; fuel is TX-II furaline in the 84-1, and TR-4 kerosine in the 84-4. The latter is in production by Hispano Suiza for the Mirage III, and deliveries exceed 100. SNECMA Sociite" Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation, 150 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris 8e. Formed as a national group in 1945, SNECMA is easily the biggest aero-engine firm in Europe, with 9,000 on the payroll and 2,220,000 sq ft of floor space. Since 1959 10.9 per cent of the capital has been held by United Aircraft, who have licensed SNECMA to make any Pratt & Whitney piston engine and spares, and certain P & W turbines (J75, JTF10 and JT12, and since 1961 the JT8D also). SNECMA have ceased design of their own engines, but are collaborating with the American firm in the development of the TF-106 described below. Military J57 and airline JT3 and JT4 turbojets are being overhauled, and spares are in pro duction for these engines. Chief product remains the Atar, although Hercules piston engines and spares are still being made under BS licence for the Noratlas. Atar Stemming from a BMW design of 1945, this single-shaft turbojet is relatively simple and cheap, and has been developed very considerably. Production began in 1953 at 6,6101b thrust, large numbers of 7,7201b Atar E and 9,7001b Atar G were delivered in 1955-9, and current production concerns the Atar 08 and 09. The former, with a two-stage turbine and extra compressor stage, has a rating of 9,7001b dry and is in production for the Etendard 4M. The 09 is the 08 with an afterburner, and current production of the 09 B3, for the Mirage HI family, has passed the 150 mark. The compressor has a steel-bladed rotor in a magnesium-alloy casing, the annular combustion chamber has 20 dual-flow burners, and the afterburner can be controlled from 20 to 40 per cent augmentation. Now entering production, the 09 C weighs 3,0251b and can overspeed 3 per cent in supersonic flight to give 7 per cent more thrust; it incorporates rematched turbine blades, a redesigned combustion chamber, air coolers for bearings 2 and 3 allowing peak Mach number to rise from 2.2 to 2.3 and a new nozzle which instead of upper and lower eyelids has 18 con-di flaps. Modi fications being introduced include a self-contained gas-turbine starter unit and a 17 per cent increase in accessory-drive power to meet rising electronic loads. The latest Atar is the 09 K, in which thrust is further augmented by increasing mass flow with transonic flow through the first two compressor stages, raising turbine inlet temperature and adopting Udimet 700-type blading, allowing a further 3 per cent r.p.m. increase in supersonic flight, improving turbine efficiency and driving the after burner fuel pump mechanically instead of by bleed air to reduce s.f.c. Qualification of the 09 K is expected this year. The Atar 09 C or 09 K will be made in Switzerland and Australia. TF-106 One of the chief reasons for SNECMA's deal with United Aircraft was that it permits the French company to lean on Pratt & Whitney for technical support. Bearing numbers from TF-100, SNECMA have sketched a family of turbofan engines suitable for several French and NATO programmes. In general these engines are based on the JTF10 (q.v.), and the most important are the TF-104, with afterburner, and the TF-106, with reheat in both hot and cold flows. The latter is the subject of an intensive programme, the first application being the Mirage IIIV (propulsion only, not lift). A JTF10 was shipped to SNECMA early in 1961, and SNECMA have so far drawn upon Hartford for hardware, although the big reheat unit is their own responsibility. A prototype of this unit has been on rig test since December, and a complete TF-106 may run at the end of this year, ahead of the original schedule. Like the JTF10A-20 for the F-111A, the TF-104 and 106 have a third fan stage, and in several other respects the US and French engines are developing in parallel. Defence Minister Messmer said this month that four US-built engines would be supplied to speed 106 development, and stressed that the ideal answer was regarded as a single powerplant acceptable to both countries, P & W being responsible for everything upstream of the turbine and SNECMA handling the afterburning duct and nozzle. Security problems are making this difficult to realize. TURBOMECA Societi Turbomica, Bordes (BP). Although the field of small turbines for aircraft propulsion has become intensely competitive, this little company in the foothills of the Pyrenees continue to dominate it. This is doubly remarkable in view of the fact that they have only 1,600 employees and less than 500,000 sq ft of covered space; but the plant is efficiently laid out and with more than 800 modern machine tools is currently producing well over 100 engines per month. Total production at Bordes is of the order of 7,000 engines, nearly half of them Marbores. In addition, some 5,000 engines have been built under licence by Continental (USA) and Blackburn (UK), and small numbers by ENMA (Spain) and in Yugoslavia. Artouste The single-shaft Artouste has achieved wide success as the powerplant of most production versions of the Alouette helicopter. More than 810 Alouette 2s have been bought, and further examples are being constructed in Sweden, the USA and India. Its powerplant is the Artouste 2C, derated to 406 s.h.p. to match the transmission. In the Artouste 3B an axial stage added to the compressor substantially increases power and efficiency, the take-off rating of 543 s.h.p. being maintained up to 113°F. Some 60 of these engines have already been delivered for the Alouette 3. Astazou An advanced and highly rated unit, the Astazou was sketched in 1957 to meet a need for a very small 350 s.h.p. turboprop, and has developed so rapidly that it is already running at shaft powers in excess of 600 h.p. As described in our handling reports on the Potez 840 (last week), Marquis and Turbo-Porter, the control system is entirely automatic, with inbuilt safety features and the ability to balance power against airspeed for any selected propeller pitch. Current instal lations of the turboprop have a three-blade Ratier-Figeac electrically controlled propeller turning at up to 2,400 r.p.m. according to reduction- gear ratio. The Astazou 1 was certificated in February 1960 at 463 s.h.p., and the Astazou 2 followed in January 1961. Without the reduction gear the Astazou 2TM is in production for the SE 3180 Alouette and Agusta A 115 helicopters. Aubisque Likely to prove a most successful engine, the Aubisque is a turbofan of a size suitable for a wide range of light military and executive aircraft. It is six years since Turbomeca introduced a new family of engines with an axial stage added upstream of the original
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