An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many small UAVs have used electric motors.
Manufacturing industry
In commercial aviation the major Western manufacturers of turbofan engines are Pratt & Whitney (a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies), General Electric, Rolls-Royce, and CFM International (a joint venture of Safran Aircraft Engines and General Electric). Russian manufacturers include the United Engine Corporation, Aviadvigatel and Klimov. Aeroengine Corporation of China was formed in 2016 with the merger of several smaller companies.
The largest manufacturer of turboprop engines for general aviation is Pratt & Whitney. General Electric announced in 2015 entrance into the market.
Development history
1848: John Stringfellow made a steam engine for a 10-foot wingspan model aircraft which achieved the first powered flight, albeit with negligible payload. 1903: Charlie Taylor built an inline engine, mostly of aluminum, for the Wright Flyer (12 horsepower). 1903: Manly-Balzer engine sets standards for later radial engines. 1906: Léon Levavasseur produces a successful water-cooled V8 engine for aircraft use. 1908: René Lorin patents a design for the ramjet engine. 1908: Louis Seguin designed the Gnome Omega, the world's first rotary engine to be produced in quantity. In 1909 a Gnome powered Farman III aircraft won the prize for the greatest non-stop distance flown at the Reims Grande Semaine d'Aviation setting a world record for endurance of . 1910: Coandă-1910, an unsuccessful ducted fan aircraft exhibited at Paris Aero Salon, powered by a piston engine. The aircraft never flew, but a patent was filed for routing exhaust gases into the duct to augment thrust. 1914: Auguste Rateau suggests using exhaust-powered compressor – a turbocharger – to improve high-altitude performance; not accepted after the tests 1917-18: The Idflieg-numbered R.30/16 example of the Imperial German Luftstreitkräfte's Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI heavy bomber becomes the earliest known supercharger-equipped aircraft to fly, with a Mercedes D.II straight-six engine in the central fuselage driving a Brown-Boveri mechanical supercharger for the R.30/16's four Mercedes D.IVa engines. 1918: Sanford Alexander Moss picks up Rateau's idea and creates the first successful turbocharger 1926: Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IV (S), the first series-produced supercharged engine for aircraft use; two-row radial with a gear-driven centrifugal supercharger. 1930: Frank Whittle submitted his first patent for a turbojet engine. June 1939: Heinkel He 176 is the first successful aircraft to fly powered solely by a liquid-fueled rocket engine. August 1939: Heinkel HeS 3 turbojet propels the pioneering German Heinkel He 178 aircraft. 1940: Jendrassik Cs-1, the world's first run of a turboprop engine. It is not put into service. 1943 Daimler-Benz DB 670, first turbofan runs 1944: Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet, the world's first rocket-propelled combat aircraft deployed. 1945: First turboprop-powered aircraft flies, a modified Gloster Meteor with two Rolls-Royce Trent engines. 1947: Bell X-1 rocket-propelled aircraft exceeds the speed of sound. 1948: 100 shp 782, the first turboshaft engine to be applied to aircraft use; in 1950 used to develop the larger Turbomeca Artouste. 1949: Leduc 010, the world's first ramjet-powered aircraft flight. 1950: Rolls-Royce Conway, the world's first production turbofan, enters service. 1968: General Electric TF39 high bypass turbofan enters service delivering greater thrust and much better efficiency. 2002: HyShot scramjet flew in dive. 2004: NASA X-43, the first scramjet to maintain altitude. 2020: Pipistrel E-811 is the first electric aircraft engine to be awarded a type certificate by EASA. It powers the Pipistrel Velis Electro, the first fully electric EASA type-certified aeroplane.