A Rolls Royce engineer was interviewed on telly recently, and he held a blade (about 3 inches long) out of the power turbine in a Trent engine in the palm of his hand. Can't remember the exact text but I think he said that one blade took the same power out of the gasflow as a Formula one racing engine develops. And it sits in a gasflow which is at a temperature of more that twice the melting point of the blade. It's only because the blade's air cooled internally that it doesn't instantly melt.
Amazing stuff.
SSD