Today we think of turbine engine blades and we immediately think of advanced computer modeling, awesome multi-axis machining. Back in 1955 they had to be more crafty than to send a file down to the bank of CNC machines and have some stuff whittled out of exotic metals by a fleet of machine operators. The video below walks through the casting process that was being used on the most advanced turbine engines in the world at that point. It was a “lost wax” casting process and it was a multi-step situation that was used to advanced the technology, horsepower, altitude capability, and air superiority that every nation on Earth was working on at the same time.
To us, the neatest thing is the fact that this video pre-dates NASA by three years. Founded in 1958 the organization would be responsible for many of the greatest technological achievements of the last 100 years including putting a man on the moon. (If you are a moon landing denier, we want to punch you).
It would be less than 10 years later that Art Arfons would get his hands on a GE J47 turbine engine and chase the greatest land-based speed marks in history with it. We’re guessing that he did it with blades that were made just like these in the video. Awesome.
