General Electric I-A

Because of a shortage of funds at Power Jets, engine components were in short supply, so development proceeded at a very slow pace.

However, in the summer of 1939, shortly before war was declared, the Air Ministry suddenly realised that the jet engine was likely to become a viable means of propulsion.

[6] General Electric's extensive experience in turbocharger production made them the natural choice for producing such engine.

[7] With utmost secrecy, in October 1941 a small dedicated GE team at the River Works plant in Lynn, Massachusetts, began the intensive development of the first US jet engine.

[8] Engine component production was undertaken fairly openly, but the project reference "Type I Supercharger" was used to disguise the true application of the parts.

A modified version, the Type I-A, incorporating partitions in the blower casing to separate the air flow into each of the individual combustion chambers at the suggestion of Whittle,[12] began testing on May 18, 1942, and developed a thrust of 1,250 lbf (5.6 kN), at an overall pressure ratio of 3:1.

On October 1, 1942, a Bell XP-59A aircraft, powered by two 1,250 lbf thrust I-A turbojet engines, made its first flight at the Muroc Army Air Field in California.

Ultimately, General Electric found they could produce a thrust of 1,610 lbf (7.2 kN) from a package the same size and weight as the I-A, which they called the I-16.