Airframes that bridged Jet and Turboprop
 

While reading Eric Brown's wonderful "Wings on my Sleeve" I encountered the photo of a Meteor fitted with an early turboprop engine. It got me thinking about aircraft which have flown as both TP and Jet. The Dornier 328 is the only other aircraft I could think of but have there been others? The more obscure the better! It would be great to hear from anyone involved in such a project and the technical obstacles involved in adapting an aircraft from one engine type to the other.

How about the HP7 Herlald for bridging the piston to turboprop gap. Originally designed with 4 Alvis Leonardes engines but got 2 RR darts

The Saab J21 piston powered aircraft was morphed into the 21R jet powered version.

If you also included post-production variants I think you are looking at a very long list indeed.

You could make the list a lot smaller by only including aircraft that flew simultaneously with both. :O

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...6lycipfjun.jpg

Then make it longer again by including test beds :)

If you include piston to TP is comparatively commonplace hence the question being TP to jet and vice versa which seems slightly more exotic. Thank for all the contributions so far.

XF84-H Thunderscreech, perhaps?

Although it never entered service, it seems low-level passes over enemy troops might have been damaging in themselves.

Turboprop to pure jet...
 

Yes, and there was a proposal to redesign and engine the HPR7 Herald with jets, but it never got off the ground. I seem to recall an Avro Lancastrian flying round with a jet fitted on test, was it a Sapphire?, but I might be wrong, and didn't the Noratlas have both petrol props and jets?

B36? Shackelton?

Yes.

http://www.airteamimages.com/pics/66/66634_800.jpg

A few did.

http://www.abpic.co.uk/images/images/1266567M.jpg

Didn't the Me262 prototype fly on piston & turbojet due to uncertainty/unreliability of the jet engines.

C-119 with a jet pack
 

These were popular in Alaska for hauling fish

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa2e9cbf8.jpg

A C119 used for a rather different purpose than fish hauling.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this pair yet:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ovosts_arp.jpg

The Tay Viscount. Had a look of the 737 about it. Based at Seighford for many years. It was the first ever 'fly by wire' aircraft, pioneering the technology.

Vickers 663 Tay-Viscount - research aircraft

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/...pstfvfwt2t.jpg

What should have been the Mk2 Shorts Belfast.......

DH - what's that - the Bel(slightly)fast(er)

Nene Viking (the world's first jetliner)



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ing_G-AJPH.jpg

RR Tyne AS.57 Ambassador : test-bed only, the left wing had the standard Centaurus piston engine. The same aircraft was also a test-bed for the earlier Napier Eland turboprop.



https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...EgcTd-lKS4_LyF

A late production B-17 converted to turboprop testbed. Boeing converted three ships, one each for Allison, Curtiss-Wright, and P&W. Identified as model 299Z.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...d_NAN10-50.jpg

The pictured ship is P&W's with T34 in the nose. This ship was eventually converted back to B-17G configuration, named "Liberty Belle", & operated as a demo aircraft for a few years, but suffered a #2 fuel tank leak and inflight fire, 13 June 2011. Liberty Belle made a successful forced landing near Oswego, Illinois, but was destroyed by fire.

Aero Commander and Jet Commander

Someone said B-36/YB-60. There was also the YB-35/YB-49.

B1 - that B-17 photo is remarkable: only the nose-mounted prop is in action, the conventional other 4 appear to be fully feathered!
Dean

Type 445 Wellington used to test the Whittle W2B/23 turbojet engine, the engine was fitted in the tail of the aircraft

Type 470 and Type 486 Wellington fitted with Whittle W2B and W2/700 respectively

Type 602 Wellington Mark X fitted with two Darts

We could be here for a very long time ...

Ha, ha, great isn't it. Remind you of anything?.....

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/...psbwmoimuo.jpg

Avro Tudor 8 anyone? It started life as a Tudor 1 with four Merlins.

IMO it actually looks quite pretty from the front, when that great barn door of a fin is less obvious.

http://www.vicflintham.co.uk/content...types/tud8.jpg

There were also the Unducted Fan* testbeds that were tried a few years back. They must surely, at least loosely, fit the description of turboprop.

GE had one on an MD-80 whilst P&W used a 727 for their 'Propfan'.


http://www.propilotmag.com/archives/..._2_09/GE36.jpg

*Someone at the time commented, "Unducted fan tells you what it isn't, not what it is."

Coming right up to date and an aircraft that made it off the drawing board, I'm surprised the Dornier do328 hasn't yet made an appearance on the thread. Single airframe available as either a turboprop or jet, production is about to restart.

Turkey To Build Dornier 328 And 328Jet | Paris Air Show 2015 content from Aviation Week



JAS

#31

#1

Ho Hum....... :)

D-Oh! :ouch:

:\

JAS

JAS
It happens to all of us mate! :)
H.

I was heading back to Swinderby in a Vampire FB9 when I overtook a Dart powered DC3 at around 30,000 feet. It happened near Nottingham (Hucknall?) in mid 1957.

The GE UDF was not only unducted, it was ungeared. Two interposed, counterrotating (contrarotating across the pond) turbines directly drove the two fan rotors.

I knew Art Adamson, the genius engineer who invented this configuration. He was personable, played tennis into his 90s, always loved to talk about his introduction to aviation as a pre-teen in farm country.

Only disadvantage I could see was - It had four separate rotors. Per FAR 25, each engine required four tachs. . . :rolleyes:

The main disadvantage of the GE UDF was one you could hear, not see. :O

Thanks for the picture of the Ryan Fireball FR1, DaveReidUK. It was the first aircraft to fly onto the deck under jet power alone, a month before 'Winkle' Brown flew the Sea Vampire on to HMS Ocean.

Sure, but only because the piston engine packed up in the circuit and the pilot fortunately managed to get the auxiliary jet fired up in time for an unplanned pancake on to the carrier.

Oh absolutely, Haraka. But it was still the first jet deck-landing!