De Havilland Ghost
| Ghost | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| A Swedish licensed-built de Havilland Ghost, the RM 2 | |
| Type | Turbojet |
| Manufacturer | de Havilland Engine Company |
| First run | 2 September 1945 |
| Major applications |
de Havilland Comet de Havilland Venom de Havilland Sea Venom |
| Developed from | de Havilland Goblin |
The de Havilland Ghost (originally Halford H-2) was the de Havilland Engine Company's second turbojet engine design to enter production and the world's first gas turbine engine to enter airline (BOAC) service. A scaled-up development of the Goblin, the Ghost powered the de Havilland Venom, de Havilland Comet and SAAB 29 Tunnan.
The Ghost originated when de Havilland started work on what was to become the Comet in 1943. Frank Halford's first design, the H-1, was just entering production and he was able to meet the power requirements of the Comet by scaling up the H-1. The resulting H-2 used ten larger combustion chambers in place of the Goblin's sixteen smaller ones, using bifurcated "split intakes" which were fed by each diffuser duct. While the prototype was being built, de Havilland bought Halford's firm and reformed it as the de Havilland Engine Company, renaming the H-1 and H-2 as the Goblin and Ghost respectively.
The Ghost was running in 1944, and flew in 1945. This was long before the Comet or Venom was ready for flight. By this point the Ghost had been selected for the Swedish "JxR" fighter project, which eventually turned into the Tunnan. During the design of the Tunnan, Sweden received German data on swept wing designs via Switzerland and redesigned the plane to incorporate this planform. The Tunnan first flew in this form in 1948. For production versions of the Tunnan, the Ghost was built under licence by Svenska Flygmotor (later to become Volvo Aero) as the RM2. The Ghost was also licence built in Italy by Fiat and in Switzerland by Sulzer Brothers.
The Ghost would next be seen when the Comet I first took to the air on 27 July 1949. It was powered by the 5,000 lbf (22 kN) Ghost 50, which this was an interim powerplant pending the availability of the Avon engine which was to be used in the Comet 2. Several versions of the Ghost 50 were produced, ending with the Ghost 50-Mk.4 installed in the Comet 1XB which was built to test new fuselage construction techniques introduced to address problems with the Comet 1.
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