De Havilland Goblin
| Goblin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Cutaway Goblin II | |
| Type | Turbojet |
| Manufacturer | de Havilland Engine Company |
| First run | 13 April 1942 |
| Major applications |
de Havilland Vampire Gloster Meteor |
| Developed into | de Havilland Ghost |
The de Havilland Goblin, originally the Halford H-1, is an early turbojet engine designed by Frank Halford and built by de Havilland. The Goblin was the second British jet engine to fly, after the Power Jets W.1, and the first to pass a type test and receive a type certificate issued for an aircraft propulsion turbine.
Although it was conceived in 1941 it remained unchanged in basic form for 13 years by which time it had evolved to the Mk. 35 export version.
The Goblin was the primary engine of the de Havilland Vampire, and was to have been the engine for the F-80 Shooting Star (as the Allis-Chalmers J36) before that design switched engines due to production delays. The Goblin also powered the Saab 21R, Fiat G.80 and de Havilland Swallow. The Goblin was later scaled up as the larger de Havilland Ghost, with the model numbers continuing from the last marks of the Goblin.
Design of the engine was carried out by Frank Halford at his London consulting firm starting in April 1941. It was based on the basic design pioneered by Frank Whittle, using a centrifugal compressor providing compressed air to sixteen individual combustion chambers, from which the exhaust powered a single-stage axial turbine. Compared to Whittle designs, the H-1 was "cleaned up" in that it used a single-sided compressor with the inlet at the front, and a "straight through" layout with the combustion chambers exhausting straight onto the turbine. Whittle's designs such as the Power Jets W.2 used a "reverse flow" layout that piped the hot air back to the middle of the engine, in order to "fold" it and reduce its length. Although it eliminated the Whittle-style "folding", the Goblin was still a very compact design.
The H-1 first ran on 13 April 1942 and quickly matured to produce its full design thrust within two months. It first flew on 5 March 1943 in the Gloster Meteor, and on 26 September in the de Havilland Vampire. It was around this time that de Havilland purchased Halford's company and set him up as the chairman of the de Havilland Engine Company, with the engine name changing from H-1 to "Goblin", while the new H-2 design became the "Ghost" - de Havilland jet and rocket engines were all named after spectral apparitions.
...
Wikipedia