The Lycoming T53, (company designation LTC-1) is a

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaft horsepower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the ex ...

engine used on

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s and (as a

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

) fixed-wing

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

since the 1950s. It was designed at the Lycoming Turbine Engine Division in

Stratford, Connecticut Stratford is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut, Greater Bri ...

, by a team headed by

Anselm Franz Anselm Franz (January 21, 1900—November 18, 1994) was a pioneering Austrian jet engine engineer known for the development of the Jumo 004, the world's first mass-produced turbojet engine by Nazi Germany during World War II, and his work on turb ...

, who was the chief designer of the

Junkers Jumo 004 The Junkers Jumo 004 was the world's first production turbojet engine in operational use, and the first successful axial compressor turbojet engine. Some 8,000 units were manufactured by Junkers in Germany late in World War II, powering the Mess ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. A much larger engine, similar in overall design, became the

Lycoming T55 The Honeywell T55 (formerly Lycoming; company designation LTC-4) is a turboshaft engine used on American helicopters and Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft (in turboprop form) since the 1950s, and in H1 Unlimited, unlimited hydroplanes sinc ...

produced by

Honeywell Aerospace Honeywell Aerospace Technologies is a manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell Intern ...

. The T53 model is produced by Ozark Aeroworks LLC.

Variants

Military designations

;T53-L-1 : ;T53-L-1A : ;T53-L-1B : ;T53-L-3 : ;T53-L-5 : ;T53-L-7 : ;T53-L-11 : ;T53-L-13 : ;T53-L-13B : improved L-11 ;T53-L-701 : turboprop variant used on Mohawk and AIDC T-CH-1 ;T53-L-703 : improved durability variant of the L-13B ;TF12 : marine gas turbine fitted to prototype hydrofoil Halobates.Schuegenpflug, Hermann, Wilcoxson, Tony, Luz, Michael (2010)
FROM THE JEFF (B) TO THE SSC AND BEYOND, TF MARINE GAS TURBINES A DEVELOPMENT STUDY
Paper Number GT2010-23659. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. p. 2

Civil designations

;T5307A :commercial L-7 ;T5309A :commercial L-9A ;T5309B :commercial L-9B ;T5309C :similar to T5309A but with L-11 combustion chamber ;T5311A :1100 shp (820 kW) ;T5313A :1400 shp (1044 kW) commercial variant of the L-13 ;T5313B :1400 shp (1044 kW) commercial variant of the L-13 ;T5317A :1500 shp (1119 kW) improved variant of the L-13 ;T5317A-1 ;T5317B ;T5317BCV ;LTC1B-1 ;LTC1B-2 :company designation for L-1A ;LTC1F-1 :company designation for L-3 ;LTC1F-2 :company designation for L-7 ;LTC1K-1 :company designation for L-5 ;LTC1K-2 :company designation for L-9 ;LTC1K-2A :company designation for L-9A ;LTC1K-2B :company designation for L-9B ;LTC1K-4 :company designation for L-13 ;LTC1K-4A :for tilt-wing / tilt-rotor aircraft (

Canadair CL-84 Dynavert The Canadair CL-84 "Dynavert", designated by the Canadian Forces as the CX-131, was a V/STOL turbine tiltwing monoplane designed and manufactured by Canadair between 1964 and 1972. Only four of these experimental aircraft were built, with three ...

) ;LTC1K-4K :1550 shp (1156 kW) direct drive variant of the L-13B ;LTC1K-5 :company designation for L-11 ;Kawasaki KT5311A: Kawasaki production for Fuji-Bell 204B helicopters

Applications

Aircraft

AIDC T-CH-1 The AIDC T-CH-1 ''Chung Hsing'' ( zh, 中興) was a turboprop-powered military trainer aircraft produced in Taiwan (Republic of China). Development Development of the T-CH-1 began in November 1970. Based on the North American T-28 Trojan trai ...

(T53-L-701) *

AIDC XC-2 The AIDC XC-2 was a prototype civil transport aircraft designed in the 1970s in Taiwan. It was a high-wing monoplane powered by two turboprop engines. The main undercarriage was carried in sponsons on either side of the boxy fuselage The fu ...

Bell 204B The Bell 204 and 205 are the civilian versions of the UH-1 Iroquois single-engine military helicopter of the Huey family of helicopters. They are type-certificated in the transport category and are used in a wide variety of applications, inc ...

(T5311A) * Bell 205A (T5313B) * Bell 205A-1 (T5313B and T5317A) *

Bell AH-1 Cobra The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a single-engined attack helicopter developed and manufactured by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Bell Helicopter. A member of the prolific Huey family, the AH-1 is also referred to as the HueyCobra or Snake. The ...

(T53-L-703) *

Bell UH-1H Iroquois The Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter, first introduced in 1959, is the first production member of Bell Helicopter's prolific Huey family of helicopters, and was itself developed in over twenty variants, which are listed below. XH-40 and YH ...

(T53-L-703) *

Bell XV-15 The Bell XV-15 is an American tiltrotor VTOL aircraft. It was the second successful experimental tiltrotor aircraft and the first to demonstrate the concept's high speed performance relative to conventional helicopters. Development Early VTOL ...

(LTC1K-4K) *

Doak VZ-4 The Doak VZ-4 (or Doak Model 16) was an American prototype VTOL, Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft built in the 1950s for service in the United States Army. Only a single prototype was built, and the U.S. Army withdrew it from active t ...

F+W C-3605 The F+W C-3605, nicknamed ''Schlepp'' ("Tug") or "Alpine Anteater", is a target tug, target towing aircraft operated by the Swiss Air Force from 1971–1987. The aircraft was developed during the latter half of the 1960s by the Swiss Federal Con ...

* Grumman OV-1D Mohawk (T53-L-701) *

Kaman HH-43 Huskie The Kaman HH-43 Huskie is a helicopter developed and produced by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Kaman Aircraft. It is perhaps most distinctive for its use of twin intermeshing rotors, having been largely designed by the German aeronautical ...

Kaman K-MAX The Kaman K-MAX (company designation K-1200) is a helicopter with intermeshing rotors (synchropter) designed and produced by the American manufacturer Kaman Aircraft. Developed during the 1980s and 1990s, the K-MAX builds on the work of the Ge ...

(T5317A-1) * Ryan VZ-3 Vertiplane *

Vertol VZ-2 The Vertol VZ-2 (or Model 76) is a research aircraft built in the United States in 1957 to investigate the tiltwing approach to vertical take-off and landing. Design and development The aircraft had a fuselage of tubular framework (originally ...

(YT53) * Eagle Single (T5317A, T5317B, or T5317BCV)

Non-aircraft

* DB Class 210, diesel railway locomotive

Specifications (T53-L-701)

References

External links

Honeywell T53 page

Ozark Aeroworks, LLC
{{USAF gas turbine engines T53 1950s turboprop engines Helicopter history T53 1950s turboshaft engines