Tag Archives: General Electric J35-GE-7

28 February 1946

Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475 takes of at Muroc AAF, California. (U.S. Air Force )
Republic XP-84 prototype 45-59475 at landing at Muroc Army Airfield, California, 1946. (U.S. Air Force )
Wallace A. Lien

28 February 1946: At Muroc Army Airfield, California, (now, Edwards Air Force Base) the first of three prototype Republic Aviation Corporation  XP-84 Thunderjet fighter bombers, serial number 45-59475, made its first flight with company test pilot Wallace Addison Lien in the cockpit.

Alexander Kartveli, Chief Engineer of the Republic Aviation Corporation, began working on the XP-84 during 1944 as a jet-powered successor to the company’s P-47 Thunderbolt fighter bomber. The prototype was completed at the factory in Farmingdale, New York, in December 1945. It was then partially disassembled and loaded aboard Boeing’s prototype XC-97 Stratofreighter and flown west to Muroc Army Airfield in the high desert of southern California. It was reassembled and prepared for its first flight.

The prototype Republic XP-84, as yet unpainted. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)

The XP-84 was 37 feet, 2 inches (11.328 meters) long, with a wingspan of 36 feet, 5 inches (11.100 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 10 inches (3.912 meters). The wings had a total area of 260 square feet ( square meters). The leading edges were swept aft to 6° 15′. The angle of incidence was 0° with -2° of twist and 4° dihedral. The airplane had an empty weight of 9,080 pounds (4,119 kilograms) and gross weight of 13,400 pounds (6,078 kilograms).

Republic XP-84. (U.S. Air Force photo)

The XP-84 was powered by a General Electric J35-GE-7 engine. The J35 was a single-spool, axial-flow turbojet engine with an 11-stage compressor and single-stage turbine. The J35-GE-7 was rated at 3,750 pounds of thrust (16.68 kilonewtons) at 7,700 r.p.m. (5-minute limit). The engine was 14 feet, 0.0 inches (4.267 meters) long, 3 feet, 4.0 inches (1.016 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,400 pounds (1,089 kilograms).

The first of three prototypes, Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475 is parked on the dry lake at Muroc Army Airfield. (U.S. Air Force)
The first of three prototypes, Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475 is parked on the dry lake at Muroc Army Airfield. (U.S. Air Force)

The XP-84 had a cruise speed of 440 miles per hour (708 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 592 miles per hour (953 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), which it could reach in approximately 13 minutes. The maximum range was 1,300 miles (2,092 kilometers).

Republic XP-84 Thunderjet. (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475 in flight. (U.S. Air Force)
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475 in flight. (U.S. Air Force)

Wallace Addison Lien was born at Alkabo, in Divide County, at the extreme northwest corner of North Dakota, 13 August 1915. He was the second of six children of Olaf Paulson Lien, a Norwegian immigrant and well contractor, and Elma Laura Richardson Lien.

Wallace A. Lien (The 1939 Gopher)

Wally Lien graduated from the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology 17 June 1939 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (B.M.E.). He was a president of the Pi Tau Sigma (ΠΤΣ) fraternity, a member of the university’s cooperative book store board, and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (A.S.M.E.). He later studied at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) at Pasadena, California, and earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering.

Lien worked as a an engineer at a steel sheet mill in Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the  the United States Army at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 18 February 1941. He was accepted as an aviation cadet at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 11 November 1941. 26 years old, Lien was 6 feet, 2 inches (1.88 meters) tall and weighed 174 pounds (79 kilograms). During World War II, Lien remained in the United States, where he served as a test pilot at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. He conducted flight tests of the Bell YP-59A Airacomet and the Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star. Having reached the rank of Major, he left the Air Corps, 16 February 1946. Lien then worked for the Republic Aviation Corporation, testing the XP-84. A few months later, Lien went to North American Aviation, where he made the first flight of the the XFJ-1 Fury, 11 September 1946

Wally Lien married Miss Idella Muir at Elizabeth, New Jersey, 26 December 1946. They would have two children.

Wallace Addison Lien died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, 28 October 1994, at the age of 79 years. He was buried at the Shrine of Remembrance Veterans Honor Court, Colorado Springs, Colorado

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

17 December 1947

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065 in flight over a snow-covered landscape. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065 in flight over a snow-covered landscape. (U.S. Air Force)
Robert M. Robbins
Robert M. Robbins

17 December 1947: Boeing test pilots Robert M. Robbins and Edward Scott Osler made the first flight of the Model 450, the XB-47 Stratojet prototype. It was a 52-minute flight from Boeing Field, Seattle, to Moses Lake Air Force Base, five miles north of the town of Moses Lake, Washington.

Robbins later said, “The best way to tell about the performance of the Stratojet is to say that any good crew could have flown it. It took no unusual ability or education. Neither Scott Osler nor I deserve any credit for the flight. Rather, the credit should go to the men who carried out these visions on the drafting boards and the factory workers who made the visions a reality.”

On 11 May 1949, during flight testing at Moses Lake, the canopy of 46-065 came off, killing test pilot Scott Osler. The co-pilot safely landed the airplane.

Designed as a strategic bomber, the B-47 could fly higher and faster than jet fighters of the time, and it was also highly maneuverable. The XB-47 (Boeing Model 450) was flown by a two-man crew in a tandem cockpit. It was 107 feet, 6 inches (32.766 meters) long with a wingspan of 116 feet (35.357 meters). The top of the vertical fin was 27 feet, 8 inches (8.433 meters) high. The wings were shoulder-mounted with the leading edges swept at 35°.

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065. (U.S. Air Force 061024-F-1234S-004)

The first prototype, 46-065, was powered by six General Electric J35-GE-7 axial flow turbojet engines in four pods mounted on pylons below the wings. The J35 was a single-spool, axial-flow turbojet engine with an 11-stage compressor and single-stage turbine. The J35-GE-7 was rated at 3,750 pounds of thrust (16.68 kilonewtons) at 7,700 r.p.m. (static thrust, Sea Level). The engine was 14 feet, 0.0 inches (4.267 meters) long, 3 feet, 4.0 inches (1.016 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,400 pounds (1,089 kilograms). (The second prototype, 46-066, was completed with J47 engines. 46-065 was later retrofitted with these engines.)

The XB-47 prototype had a maximum speed of 502 knots (578 miles per hour/930 kilometers per hour/0.80 Mach) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The combat speed was 462 knots (532 miles per hour/856 kilometers per hour/0.70 Mach) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). The prototype’s empty weight was 74,623 pounds (33,848 kilograms), while its maximum takeoff weight was 162,500 pounds (73,709 kilograms). It required a ground run of 11,900 feet (3,627 meters), or 4,800 feet (1,463 meters) with JATO assist. The bomber could climb at a rate of 3,650 feet per minute (18.5 meters per second) at Sea Level, at combat weight and maximum power. The service ceiling was 37,500 feet (11,430 meters). The XB-47 carried 9,957 gallons (37,691 liters) of fuel. The combat radius was 1,175 nautical miles (1,352 statute miles/2,176 kilometers) with a 10,000 pound (4,536 kilogram) bomb load.

Planned armament (though the XB-47s were delivered without it) consisted of two .50-caliber machine guns in a tail turret, with 1,200 rounds of ammunition, and 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) of bombs.

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065, the first of two prototypes, on the ramp at Boeing Field, Seattle, 1 December 1947. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065, the first of two prototypes, on the ramp at Boeing Field, Seattle, 1 December 1947. (U.S. Air Force)

The Stratojet was one of the most influential aircraft designs of all time and its legacy can be seen in almost every jet airliner built since the 1950s: the swept wing with engines suspended on pylons, mounted forward of the leading edge.

2,032 B-47s were built by Boeing Wichita, Douglas Tulsa and Lockheed Marietta. They served the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1977.

Right rear quarter view of Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065. (U.S. Air Force)
Right rear quarter view of Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065. (U.S. Air Force)

The very last B-47 flight took place 18 June 1986 when B-47E-25-DT, serial number 52-166, was flown from the Naval Air Weapons Center China Lake to Castle Air Force Base to be placed on static display.

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065. (U.S. Air Force 061024-F-1234S-003)

XB-47 45-065 stalled while landing at Larson Air Force Base, near Moses Lake, Washington, 18 August 1951. The crew of three escaped uninjured. The airplane suffered major structural damage. It was returned to Boeing at Seattle, Washington in 1953. The second prototype, XB-47 46-066, is in the collection of the Air Force Flight Test Museum, Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-066, Sandia. (SDASM)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

12 December 1947

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet rollout at Seattle, Washington, 12 December 1947. (U.S. Air Force 061024-F-1234S-065)

12 December 1947: The Boeing XB-47 Stratojet was rolled out of its hangar for public display.

The Arizona Republic reported:

Boeing’s New Jet Bomber Is The Size of Superfort

     SEATTLE, Sept. 13—(AP) A new jet-propelled bomber, the size of a B-29 Superfortress and with sharply sweptback wings and tail surfaces will begin ground and taxiing tests soon.

     Whether the new Boeing XB-47 Stratojet, rolled out of its construction hangar for the first public display yesterday will near or attain speeds of jet fighter planes remains undisclosed. The army air forces and Boeing, showing the plane, made no mention of its expected speed, but streamlining was carried to the extreme.

     The sharply turned-back or inverted wings and tail surfaces appeared to be notable innovations in plane design. Four general Electric-built jet engines are mounted in pairs under the inboard sections of the wing, with another out near each wing tip.

     The wings are also “exceptionally thin,” a Boeing spokesman said, and the plane has a tandem type landing gear with small outrigger wheels. What was also described as 18 jet-assisted takeoff units studded the rear fuselage for added power. There was only one bomb bay, compared with the two on a B-29, but it was longer than those on a Superfortress.

     Compared with the B-29’s wing span of 141 feet and length of 99 feet, the XB-47’s wing span is approximately 116 feet and its length about 108 feet.

     Robert Robbins and Scott Osler, chosen as the plane’s test pilots a year ago, said it would be probably a month or more before it could take to the air. They said its initial flights would be “admittedly hazardous” but believe it will be an “outstanding airplane.”

     Blueprints used in planning the ship provides for two rocket motors near the tail, to be used for emergency bursts of power, experts said. It would be the first combat-type aircraft with such equipment.

     The Boeing company has turned out three other new-type planes this year. They were the new B-50, the successor to the Superfortress, the first 80-passenger Stratocruiser and the XL-15 Liaison plane, being built at the Wichita, Kan., plant.

     Several other jet bombers are under experiment for the army and the Consolidated Vultee XB-46, powered with four engine, and the North American XB-45, also a four-engine plane, have undergone trial flights.

The Arizona Republic, Vol. 58, No. 116, 14 September 1947, Page 12, Columns 1–3

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065. (U.S. Air Force 061024-F-1234S-004)

The first prototype, 46-065, was powered by six General Electric J35-GE-7 axial flow turbojet engines in four pods mounted on pylons below the wings. The J35 was a single-spool, axial-flow turbojet engine with an 11-stage compressor and single-stage turbine. The J35-GE-7 was rated at 3,750 pounds of thrust (16.68 kilonewtons) at 7,700 r.p.m. (static thrust, Sea Level). The engine was 14 feet, 0.0 inches (4.267 meters) long, 3 feet, 4.0 inches (1.016 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,400 pounds (1,089 kilograms). (The second prototype, 46-066, was completed with J47 engines. 46-065 was later retrofitted with these engines.)

The XB-47 prototype had a maximum speed of 502 knots (578 miles per hour/930 kilometers per hour/0.80 Mach) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The combat speed was 462 knots (532 miles per hour/856 kilometers per hour/0.70 Mach) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). The prototype’s empty weight was 74,623 pounds (33,848 kilograms), while its maximum takeoff weight was 162,500 pounds (73,709 kilograms). It required a ground run of 11,900 feet (3,627 meters), or 4,800 feet (1,463 meters) with JATO assist. The bomber could climb at a rate of 3,650 feet per minute (18.5 meters per second) at Sea Level, at combat weight and maximum power. The service ceiling was 37,500 feet (11,430 meters). The XB-47 carried 9,957 gallons (37,691 liters) of fuel. The combat radius was 1,175 nautical miles (1,352 statute miles/2,176 kilometers) with a 10,000 pound (4,536 kilogram) bomb load.

Planned armament (though the XB-47s were delivered without it) consisted of two .50-caliber machine guns in a tail turret, with 1,200 rounds of ammunition, and 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) of bombs.

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065, the first of two prototypes, on the ramp at Boeing Field, Seattle, 1 December 1947. (U.S. Air Force)

The Stratojet was one of the most influential aircraft designs of all time and its legacy can be seen in almost every jet airliner built since the 1950s: the swept wing with engines suspended on pylons, mounted forward of the leading edge.

2,032 B-47s were built by Boeing Wichita, Douglas Tulsa and Lockheed Marietta. They served the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1977.

The very last B-47 flight took place 18 June 1986 when B-47E-25-DT, serial number 52-166, was flown from the Naval Air Weapons Center China Lake to Castle Air Force Base to be placed on static display.

XB-47 45-065 stalled while landing at Larson Air Force Base, near Moses Lake, Washington, 18 August 1951. The crew of three escaped uninjured. The airplane was damaged beyond repair. The second prototype, XB-47 46-066, is in the collection of the Air Force Flight Test Museum, Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Boeing XB-47 Stratojet 46-065. (U.S. Air Force)

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes