[kach22i]

2015
GE Aviation
The Nuclear-Powered Jet Engine, Ceramic Turbines and Other Gems from the History of Flight
https://www.ge.com/reports/post/101351330860/the-nuclear-powered-jet-engine-ceramic-turbines/

The airplane was still barely a teenager when the United States entered World War I, and the U.S. Army’s fledgling aeronautical division wanted to make its airplanes fly higher without losing power.

Sanford Moss, a GE engineer and one of the brightest minds in the steam turbine business, had an idea. He and his team designed a device called turbosupercharger. It used exhaust fumes coming from an aircraft engine to power a small turbine. The turbine increased the air pressure in the engine’s cylinders and gave it more oomph, especially at high altitudes where the air is thinner.

Although the unducted turbofan didn’t catch on, the carbon fiber blade technology allowed GE engineers to build a new a line of massive high-bypass turbofan engines,...................