The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
The Bizarre Rear-Fan Engine That Killed The World's Fastest Airliner
In an ironic twist, GE's financially disastrous attempt to build an aft-fan turbofan doomed General Dynamic's Convair while laying GE's foundation.
The Bizarre Rear-Fan Engine That Killed The World's Fastest Airliner
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, aviation designers explored competing engine concepts as they shaped the future of airliners, including aft-fan turbofans and other propulsion configurations.
The material notes that the era was marked by uncertainty about which technological path would dominate, with several high-profile concepts vying for prominence, including supersonic hopes and turbofan designs with rear-mounted fans.
A historic twist highlighted by the source is GE’s pursuit of an aft-fan turbofan, a project described as financially disastrous for GE and consequential for other programs of the era.
The narrative suggests that GE’s challenges with the aft-fan concept had a significant impact on General Dynamic’s Convair program, though it does not provide specific dates, outcomes, or technical details about the aircraft or engines involved.