About General Electric

Jet Engines

GE - Aviation is the world's leading producer of large and small jet engines for commercial and military aircraft. We also supply aircraft-derived engines for marine applications and provide aviation services. GE - Aviation's technological excellence, supported by continuing substantial investments in research and development, has been the foundation of growth, and helps to ensure quality products for customers.

GE Aviation: Nine Decades That Changed The World

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the U.S. Government searched for a company to develop the first airplane engine "booster" for the fledgling U.S. aviation industry. This booster, or turbosupercharger, installed on a piston engine, used the engine's exhaust gases to drive an air compressor to boost power at higher altitude.

General Electric accepted the challenge first, but another team also requested the chance to develop the turbosupercharger. Contracts were awarded in what was the first military aircraft engine competition in the U.S.A. Under wartime secrecy, both companies tested and developed various designs until the Army called for a test demonstration.

GE Builds America's First Jet Engine

Because principles and challenges in turbosuperchargers apply to gas turbines as well, GE was a logical choice to build America's first jet engine.

In 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps picked GE's Lynn, Massachusetts, plant to build a jet engine based on the design of Britain's Sir Frank Whittle. Six months later, on April 18, 1942, GE's engineers successfully ran the I-A engine.

In October, 1942, at Muroc Dry Lake, California, two I-A engines powered the historic first of a Bell XP-59A Airacomet aircraft, launching the United States into the Jet Age. (The thrust rating of the I-A was 1,250 pounds; the thrust rating of the GE90-115B is more than 90 times as great at 115,000 pounds.

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