Pratt & Whitney J48


The Pratt & Whitney J48 is a turbojet engine developed by Pratt & Whitney as a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay. The Tay/J48 was an enlarged development of the Rolls-Royce Nene.

Design and development

In 1947, at the behest of the United States Navy, Pratt & Whitney entered into an agreement to produce the Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal-flow turbojet engine under license as the J42, for use in the Grumman F9F Panther fighter aircraft. Concerned that the Nene would not have the potential to cope with future weight growth in improved versions of the Panther, Luke Hobbs, vice president of engineering for P&W's parent company, the United Aircraft Corporation, requested that Rolls-Royce design a more powerful engine based on the Nene, which Pratt & Whitney would also produce.
By 1948, Rolls-Royce had designed the Tay turbojet, also a centrifugal-flow design. However, as Rolls-Royce was then developing an improved design with an axial compressor, which would become the Avon, the development and production of the Tay turbojet was left to Pratt & Whitney. However, Rolls-Royce retained the rights to the Tay outside of the United States.
The Tay/J48 was a thirty percent enlargement of the preceding Nene/J42, and was produced both with and without afterburning.

Operational history

Several aircraft types used the J48 engine during the 1950s, including the Grumman F9F-5 Panther. and Grumman F9F-6/F9F-8 Cougar, The U.S. Air Force's Lockheed F-94C Starfire and North American YF-93 used afterburning versions of the J48 engine.

Variants

Data from The Engines of Pratt & Whitney: A Technical History.
Thrust given in foot-pounds (lbf) and kilonewtons (kN).
;J48-P-1: / with afterburning
;J48-P-2: / with water injection, powered some early Grumman F9F Panthers
;J48-P-3: / with afterburning
;J48-P-5: / with afterburning, powered the Lockheed F-94C Starfire
;J48-P-6: / with water injection, powered the North American YF-93
;J48-P-6a: / with water injection, powered the Grumman F9F-5 Panther
;J48-P-7: / with afterburning
;J48-P-8:, powered the Grumman F9F-6 Cougar
;J48-P-8A:
; Turbo-Wasp JT-7: Commercial engines / company designation

Applications