Pratt & Whitney T57 turboprop

GTX

GTX

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Does anyone have details on the Pratt & Whitney T57 turboprop? I would especially love to see some drawings and dimensions. Would also love to see gearbox details.

I do know that the T57 was the turboprop version of the later J57, with the “wasp-waist”. The T57 was started in 1953, one year after qualification of the “wasp-waist” design, to power the Douglas C-132 transport, which was cancelled in March 1957 along with the T57. Six T57 engines were built, over 3,100 engine test hours were run, and the T57 was flown October 1956. Projected/design power was 15,000shp.

13-6.jpg


Above: Douglas C-124 Globemaster with a Pratt & Whitney T57 turboprop installed in the nose.
 
No hyphened prefixes on official military engine designations, please... ;)

It's J85, not J-85, T57, not T-57, TF120 not TF-120...
 
GTX said:
Please.... :mad:
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be difficult, honest.

When someone searches for T57 in the search engine, they won't find a topic that has T-57 all over (though in this they would have because you had a mix of both).
I'm merely trying to get as close as possible to the real designations, if only because this forum is considered a reference by many. If someone is tempted to say: "Let's see on SPF how they spell it" then I'd rather we provided the correct spelling...
 
From Gunston's 'World Encyclopaedia of Aero Engines', 5th edition, p.165:-


cheers,
Robin.
 

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Ta...would you believe I actually have my copy open at that exact page right now. ;D
 
I have seen both hyphenated and non hyphenated used. Either way, it is clearly possible to understand what is being referred to and hardly worth someone getting the knickers in a knot over... ::)
 
Tailspin Turtle said:
Stargazer2006 said:
No hyphened prefixes on official military engine designations, please... ;)

It's J85, not J-85, T57, not T-57, TF120 not TF-120...
Click to expand...

Oh - I thought that there were R-2800s, R-1820s, etc...
Click to expand...

Yes, that was the system for non-jet engines as it was started in the 1930s. The prefixes R-, V-, H-, L-, X- and O- all had hyphens and continued to have them. Not so with the jets...
 
Stargazer has a point.

Beyond that, interesting point relevant to Tartle's posts about the Bristol Orion - was the T57 designed the same way, to have a reduction gear and prop sized to the cruise rating at altitude, rather than a reduction gear that could handle the full power potential at sea level?


By the way, P&W's museum has a T57.
 
My guess is it is just a big turboprop but will think on, and dig on!
The C-132 was cancelled due to problems with the development of its Pratt & Whitney XT57 turboprop design of 15,000 shp each. The weight was 6,600 lb and sfc 0.55. The 15,000hp P&W T57 turboprop was started in jan 1953, first ran in sept 1954 and first flew oct 1956. was cancelled in 1957, and the C-132 disappeared together with it. Some of the lessons learned with the T57 were applied to the C-133s T34 engine to raise its horsepower from 6,500 shp (T34-P-7WA) to 7,500 T34-P-9W).

[C-132 link provided removed — not working]
 

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I know this thread is pretty old at this point but I'd like to add in here some information I've gathered while looking up this engine in the past few days. I have some exciting information I thought I'd share on here to maybe liven up the discussion on this fascinating engine.

I might've found the last known complete engine left.

In my efforts to find more info on this engine I came across an amazing find on, funny enough, the surplus sales section of a museum's website.
1643998749222.png
This is on the New England Air Museum's website in their "Surplus Sales" section here: https://www.neam.org/shell.php?page=surplus_for_sale

I am convinced this is certainly a XT57/T57 engine (not only because they call it a PT5/PT-5 which was the internal company designation) but from the distinctive scalloped section of the front gearbox case. The picture is small and there's no larger version available but it seems like there's a prop in the background that would be the correct (enormous) size.

I have sent an inquiry to the museum about the engine and any history about it but I have a feeling it might've been donated or sold to the museum from the Pratt & Whitney Museum in Hartford, CT which is just down the road from the museum's location in Windsor Locks. Nothing back from them yet but I will certainly update the thread here if I get a reply back form them!
 
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I honestly wish it was fully developed, would have been quite the interesting engine!
 

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