GB883634A - Improved gas turbine engine - Google Patents

Abstract

883,634. Vertical take-off aircraft. ROLLSROYCE Ltd. July 31, 1959 [Aug. 15, 1958], No. 26385/58. Class 4. [Also in Group XXVI]. In an aircraft gas turbine engine adapted to produce vertical thrust for vertical flight, hovering or vertical take-off, the compressor air intake comprises internal wall members disposed downstream of the nose of the engine and spaced apart, or adapted to be spaced apart, to provide between them an annular gap, the internal wall members being shaped to direct air through the annular gap and into the air intake. In the engine shown, vertical thrust is obtained by tilting the engine through 45 degrees from the horizontal position into the position shown, a movable jet nozzle part 32 being tilted through 45 degrees relative to the engine so that it assumes the vertical position shown. The nozzle part 32 and an intermediate nozzle part 31 are interconnected by gearing in the manner described in Specification 883,633 (see Group XXXIII) so that nozzle part 31 moves, relative to the engine, through half the angle moved through by the part 32. At the same time, a centre body 1 and nose portion 2 are moved axially forward to open a gap 11 between the nose portion 2 and the remainder of the engine nacelle. The gap 11, which is generally annular but oblique to the axis of the engine, provides an intake with ram effect due to the forward flight of the aircraft. In a modification, the jet nozzle is fixed and the engine is tilted into a vertical position. The annular gap may be formed in the engine casing itself if there is no nacelle, and the means for closing the annular gap may comprise a sliding cylindrical valve coaxial with the engine.