George Huebner
| George Huebner | |
|---|---|
George J Huebner, Jr.
|
|
| Born |
George John Huebner September 8, 1910 Detroit, Michigan |
| Died | September 4, 1996 (aged 85) Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | turbine engines |
| Notable work | turbine engine automobile |
George Huebner {also George John Huebner, Jr. and George J. Huebner, Jr.) was an executive engineer that worked for the Chrysler Corporation. He is noted for designing turbine engines used in Chrysler experimental automobiles. He developed the first practical gas turbine engine for a passenger automobile.
Huebner was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 8, 1910. He was the son of George John Huebner (Sr) and Ruth Reigel Huebner. His father was a stockbroker and published Tooling and Production magazine. His grandfather was an automobile parts dealer and many times sold parts and material to Henry Ford. Huebner was a high achiever in school and skipped a few grades. He enrolled at the University of Michigan when sixteen years old. His first classes were in economics, thinking that he might follow in his father's footsteps as a stockbroker. He later had interest in mechanical engineering and changed his path of higher education to engineering. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1930.
Huebner joined Chrysler Corporation full time in 1931 after graduating from the university. He was at first a research engineer and in 1936 became assistant chief engineer at the age of 26. He held that position until 1939 when he went to the Central Engineering Division to work with Carl Breer, one of the core engineers of 15 years before. One of his first jobs there was working on aircraft turbine engines. In the 1940s, with a group of engineers, he designed a liquid-cooled V-16 fighter aircraft engine. In 1949 the U.S. Navy gave Chrysler a contract for the design of a 1,000-horsepower turboprop aircraft engine of which he was the chief engineer.
Huebner became chief engineer of Chrysler's Research Division developing experimental automobiles. There he was in charge of gas turbine engine design and became Director of Research in 1955. He was responsible for the design of the first automotive V-8 engine with a hemispheric combustion chamber ("Hemi"). Huebner, as research engineer at the Chrysler Corporation in 1956, directed the project of the first transcontinental trip in a gas-turbine automobile. The automobile used was fitted with a gas turbine engine of his design. It was given the name "Chrysler Turbine Special".
Huebner drove across the United States the turbine engine automobile, a converted 1956 Plymouth Belvedere. He left New York City with his driving crew on Monday March 26, 1956 and traveled three thousand miles on the nation's highways with a support caravan of station wagons of equipment. Huebner, as the driver of the Plymouth automobile, arrived four days later in Los Angeles on Friday evening March 30. He designed and developed the engine that was used in the car for the trip. The first transcontinental trip of a gas turbine car ran on white gas instead of the normal gasoline used in piston automobiles. It was driven at 40 to 45 miles per hour and averaged 13 to 14 miles per gallon.
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