In response to an Air Force request in 1952 for a 373 - 522 kW (500- to 700-hp) turboprop engine, Lycoming produced two designs, both of which could be converted to turboshafts to power helicopters by removing the propeller gearbox. Lycoming was awarded a contract to develop a free-turbine turboshaft engine, designated LTC1 (military designation T53-L-1). It was military qualified in 1958, and the first production engine delivered in 1959.
The front-drive, concentric-shaft design became a widely accepted U.S. standard for turboshaft engines. The T53 gave Lycoming its start in the aircraft gas turbine business and played a key role in the expansion of the Army's airmobile role during the Vietnam War. The T53 powered the Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) and AH-1 HueyCobra helicopters, and this turboprop artifact powered the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk airplane.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Circa 1960s
United States of America
PROPULSION-Turbines (Jet)
Lycoming (Stratford, Connecticut)
Type: Turboprop, two-shaft
Power Rating: 820 kw (1,100 shp)
Compressor: 5-stage axial and 1-stage centrifugal
Combustor: Annular
Turbine: Single-stage axial for gas generator, single-stage axial free power
Weight: 252 kg (555 lb)
Overall: 555lb. (251.7kg)
Other: 4 ft. 10 3/8 in. × 1 ft. 11 in. (148.3 × 58.4cm)
Storage: 100.3 × 185.4 × 109.2cm (3 ft. 3 1/2 in. × 6 ft. 1 in. × 3 ft. 7 in.)
A19830339000
Transferred from the U.S. Army
National Air and Space Museum
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