150 BC – A Greek philosopher and

mathematician, Hero, invented a toy (Aeolipile) that

rotated on top of a boiling pot of water. This caused a
reaction effect of hot air or steam that moved several
nozzles arranged on a wheel. This works when one
understands the Third Law of Motion - Every action
produces a reaction equal in force and opposite in
direction.

1232 - Chinese began to use rockets as weapons. The

invention of gun powder uses the reaction principle to
move rockets foward.

1500 - Leonardo da Vinci drew a sketch of a device, the chimney

jack, that rotated due to the effect of hot gases flowing up a
chimney. It looked like a device that used hot air to rotate a spit.
The hot air came from the fire and rose upward to pass through a
series of fan like blades that turned the roasting spit.

1629 - Giovanni Branca developed a stamping mill, that used jets of

steam to rotate a turbine that then rotated to operate machinery.

1678 - Ferdinand Verbiest built a model carriage that used a steam jet for power.

1687 - Sir Isaac Newton announces the three laws of motion. These form the basis for modern
propulsion theory.

1791 - John Barber received the first patent for a basic turbine engine. His design was planned to
use as a method of propelling the 'horseless carriage.' The turbine was designed with a chain-driven,
reciprocating type of compressor. It has a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine.

1872 - Dr. F. Stolze designed the first true gas turbine engine. His engine used a multistage turbine
section and a flow compressor. This engine never ran under its own power.

1903 - Aegidius Elling of Norway built the first successful gas turbine using both rotary compressors
and turbines - the first gas turbine with excess power.

1897 - Sir Charles Parson patented a steam turbine which was used to power a ship.

1914 - Charles Curtis filed the first application for a gas turbine engine.

1918 - General Electric company started a gas turbine division. Dr. Stanford A. Moss developed the
GE turbosupercharger engine during W.W.I. It used hot exhaust gases from a reciprocating engine to
drive a turbine wheel that in turn drove a centrifugal compressor used for supercharging.
1920 - Dr. A. A. Griffith developed a theory of turbine design based on gas flow past airfoils rather
than through passages.

1930 - Sir Frank Whittle in England patented a design for a gas turbine for jet propulsion. The first
successful use of this engine was in April, 1937. His early work on the theory of gas propulsion was
based on the contributions of most of the earlier pioneers of this field.

1936 - At the same time as Frank Whittle was working in Great Britain, Hans von Ohian and Max
Hahn, students in Germany developed and patented their own engine design.

1939 (August) - The aircraft company Ernst Heinkel Aircraft flew the first flight of a gas turbine jet,
the HE178.

1941 - Sir Frank Whittle designed the first successful turbojet airplane, the Gloster Meteor, flown
over Great Britain. Whittle improved his jet engine during the war, and in 1942 he shipped an engine
prototype to General Electric in the United States. America's first jet plane was built the following
year.

1942 - Dr. Franz Anslem developed the axial-flow turbojet, Junkers Jumo 004, used in the
Messerschmitt Me 262, the world's first operational jet fighter.
B. TYPES OF GAS TURBINE ENGINES

1. Turbojet
A turbojet is the simplest of all aircraft turbine engines, consisting of four sections: compressor,
combustion chamber, turbine section and exhaust. Turbojets were developed in Germany and
England before World War II. In this type of engine, air is passed at a high rate of speed into the
combustion chamber where the fuel inlet and igniter is located. The turbine, driven by expanding
air, causes thrust from accelerated exhaust
gases. Covington Aircraft has extensive
experience in aircraft engine overhaul, as
well as routine maintenance for these types
of engines.

2. Turbofan
Merging the best features of the turbojet and turboprop, the turbofan is an aircraft turbine
engine that diverts a secondary flow of air
around the combustion chamber, which
creates additional thrust. This is the most
modern version of an aircraft turbine engine
and the one often found on high-speed
transport and fighter planes. Because many
corporations choose turbofan engines,
Covington Aircraft focuses on plane
maintenance to keep corporate planes in the
air, avoiding grounded aircraft due to
maintenance issues.

3. Turboprop
Turboprop engines drive propellers through a reduction gear, which provides optimum propeller
performance at slower rpm speeds. That translates to greater fuel efficiency and performance at
slower airspeeds, which is why turboprops are popular aircraft turbine engines for small, commuter
aircraft, cargo planes and agricultural use. The
propellers are less efficient as the aircraft speed
increases, making them better for planes that
do not have travel at higher speeds. Because
agricultural pilots rely on the consistency of
their aircraft, Covington Aircraft has proudly
worked on turboprop planes used in agriculture
since 1972.
4. Turbosharf
Turboshaft engines are primarily used on
helicopters. The biggest difference between
turboshafts and turbojets is that turboshaft
engines use the majority of their power to turn
a turbine, rather than produce thrust out the
back of the engine.
Turboshafts are essentially a turbojet
engine with a large shaft connect to the back
of it. And since most of these engines are used
on helicopters, that shaft is connected to the
rotor blade transmission.

5. Unducted and Ducted Fan Engines

Unducted Fan Engines is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both

the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed and
performance of a turbofan, with the fuel economy of a turboprop. Ducted fan has higher
propulsive efficiency compared to its uncovered counterpart, yet its working principle is exactly
the same as that of a propeller. However, to obtain optimum benefit from the duct installation,
the fan blades must be installed with a very small gap from the duct.
C. BASIC SECTIONS OF A GAS TURBINE ENGINE

1. Engine inlet

The engine inlet duct must provide clean and unrestricted airflow. Clean and undisturbed inlet
airflow extends engine life by preventing erosion, corrosion, and foreign object damage (FOD).
The inlet duct assembly is usually designed and produced as a separate system rather than as
part of the design and production of the engine.

2. Compressor section

Intake air is mechanically compressed. Pressure and temperature increase with a

corresponding decrease in volume. Mechanical energy driving the compressor is converted to
kinetic energy in the form of compressed air.

3. Combustion section

Fuel is sprayed into the combustor and burned converting the chemical energy to thermal
energy in the form of a hot expanding gas. Volume and temperature greatly increase while
pressure remains constant through the combustor.

4. Turbine section

The turbine converts the gaseous energy of the air/burned fuel mixture out of the combustor
into mechanical energy to drive the compressor, driven accessories, and, through a reduction
gear, the propeller. The turbine converts gaseous energy into mechanical energy by expanding
the hot, high-pressure gases to a lower temperature and pressure.

5. Exhaust

Hot exhaust gases are ducted through ships uptake to the atmosphere. pressure,
temperature and volume remain the same through the exhaust phase.