Timeline of Jet Power - 1943

1943

• January 1: Rolls takes over the Rover plants, although the official date is several months later. Stanley Hooker leads a team including Fred Morley, Arthur Rubbra and Harry Pearson. Several Rover engineers decide to stay on as well, including Adrian Lombard, leader of Rover's "offshoot" design team. They focus on making the W.2B production quality as soon as possible.
• After only a few short months at Rolls, the W.2B/23, soon to be known as the Rolls-Royce Welland, starts production.
• The parallel Rover design effort, the W.2B/26, is tested. It becomes the Rolls-Royce Derwent.
• The de Havilland Goblin engine is tested, similar in most ways to the Derwent.
• March: A license for the Goblin is taken out in the United States by Allis-Chalmers, later becoming the J36. Lockheed is awarded a contract to develop what would become the P-80 Shooting Star, powered by this engine.
• Production of Jumo 004B starts.
• Production of BMW 003A starts.
• First running turbofan the German Daimler-Benz DB 670 (aka 109-007) operated on its testbed on April 1, 1943
• Throughout 1943, the Jumo 004 and BMW 003 continue to destroy themselves at an alarming rate due to turbine failures. Efforts in the United Kingdom, at one point years behind due to official indifference, have now caught up due to the availability of high temperature alloys which allowed for considerably more reliable high-heat sections of their designs.
• Design work on the BMW 018 starts.
• The US decides to rename all existing jet projects with a single numbering scheme. The L-1000 becomes the J37, GE's Type I the J31, and Westinghouse's WE-19 the J30. Newer projects are fitted into the remaining "30's". Turboprop designs become the T series, also starting at 30.
• June: Metrovick F.2/1 tested, fitted to Avro Lancaster
• September: Allis-Chalmers runs into difficulty on the J36, and the Shooting Star project is re-engined with the General Electric J33, a licensed version of the W.2B/26, or Rolls-Royce Derwent. GE later modifies the design to produce over twice the thrust, at 4,000 lbf (18 kN).
• Frank Whittle's W.2B/700 engine is tested, fitted to a Vickers Wellington Mk II bomber.
• March: Westinghouse's X19A axial-flow engine is bench tested at 1,165 lbf (5,180 N).
• Miles Aircraft test an all-moving tailplane as part of the Miles M.52 supersonic research aircraft design effort.
• A Welland-powered prototype Gloster Meteor flies.
• The Goblin-powered de Havilland Vampire flies.
• Lyul'ka VDR-2 axial-flow engine tested, the first Soviet jet design.
• The General Electric J31, their version of the W.2B/23, is tested.
• November: The Metrovick F.2 is tested on a modified Gloster Meteor. Although more powerful, smaller and more fuel efficient than the Welland, the design is judged too complex and failure prone. In his quest for perfection, Griffith instead delivers an impractical design. Work continues on a larger version with an additional compressor stage that over doubles the power.
• The Armstrong Siddeley ASX is tested.
• Metrovick F2/3 delivers 2,700 lbf (12,000 N) but not developed further, moving on to 10 stage F2/4