The power of thrust!
Britain's once mighty Vulcan - our 1950s nuclear deterrent - was the star of the RAF Waddington Air Show last week. It made a great noise and a terrific spectacle, but it's puny by modern standards.
Its engines develop 6,500 lbs of thrust each - just SIX PERCENT of the massively powerful GE powerplants in the latest Boeing 777!
It's incredible how jet engines have developed - each Concorde motor made 'just' 38,000 lbs. Contrast that with the GE 90 motor's 115,000! And, get this, the GE engine has been tested at 127,000 lbs, equivalent to almost 20 Vulcan motors!
To compare, a B52 - broadly the Vulcan's transatlantic equivalent produces 17,000lbs and each motor of the the latest B1 bomber produces 30,000lbs.
Of course the GE engine has such a huge aperture it's severely limited on top speed, but even so these are impressive statistics that show what extraordinary progress there's been in jet engine development. Of course the latest high bypass jets are also vastly more fuel-efficient and much quieter. Impressive stuff!
Its engines develop 6,500 lbs of thrust each - just SIX PERCENT of the massively powerful GE powerplants in the latest Boeing 777!
It's incredible how jet engines have developed - each Concorde motor made 'just' 38,000 lbs. Contrast that with the GE 90 motor's 115,000! And, get this, the GE engine has been tested at 127,000 lbs, equivalent to almost 20 Vulcan motors!
To compare, a B52 - broadly the Vulcan's transatlantic equivalent produces 17,000lbs and each motor of the the latest B1 bomber produces 30,000lbs.
Of course the GE engine has such a huge aperture it's severely limited on top speed, but even so these are impressive statistics that show what extraordinary progress there's been in jet engine development. Of course the latest high bypass jets are also vastly more fuel-efficient and much quieter. Impressive stuff!
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