Westinghouse J34

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The J34 was a turbojet engine developed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the late 1940s. Essentially an enlarged version of the earlier Westinghouse J30, the J34 produced 3,000 pounds of thrust, twice as much as the J30. Later models produced as much as 4,900 lbs with the addition of an afterburner. It first flew in 1947.

Built in an era of rapidly advancing gas turbine engine technology, the J34 was largely obsolete before it even saw service, and often served as an interim engine. For instance, the Douglas X-3 "Stiletto" was equipped with two J34 engine when the intended Westinghouse J46 engine proved to be unsuitable. The Stiletto was developed to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds. However, equipped with the J34 instead of its intended engines, it was seriously underpowered for this purpose and could not even exceed Mach 1 in level flight.

Developed during the changeover from piston-engined propeller aircraft to jets, the J34 would often be fitted to aircraft as a supplement to other powerplants, as with the P-2 Neptune and Douglas Skyrocket (fitted with radial piston engines and a rocket engine, respectively).

J34
J34 on display at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum
Type	Turbojet
Manufacturer	Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Maiden flight	11 January 1947
Primary user	U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy
Unit cost	$????