During the next 20 months, the engine logged more than 1000 hours of test-bed running. The test results showed the Chinook attained a thrust of 3,000 pounds (1360 kg) and weighed 1250 pounds (567 kg). Since the Chinook was never intended for quantity production, the program was halted. The purpose for the project was to provide valuable engineering research information for future manufacturing.
When the RCAF discussed plans for development of the jet engine with TRL in 1946, they had told A.V. Roe Canada to design and develop a turbojet engine with a thrust equal to that of the largest engines which were then on the drawing boards in the U.K. and United States.
The RCAF wanted an engine which would have efficiency in production, the ability to handle design changes quickly, cost efficiency and be applicable to new technologies, materials and manufacturing techniques.
Essential materials in the manufacture of the engine, including cobalt, nickel, chromium and tungsten, were all readily available in Canada. These materials are required in the special high-temperature steel alloys used on the ‘hot-end’ parts of the jet engine.
The modified Lancaster MkX became a flying test-bed for the Orenda engine. The two Orenda engines were mounted outboard of the Merlin piston engines used to power the original Lancaster. Photo by Jack McNulty. Reproduced with permission of Magellan Aerospace Corporation.
Plans and design for the Orenda engine were now well in the works. Originally called the TR-5, it was later named Orenda. The new engine ran for the first time on a test-bed in February, 1949. The next year a Lancaster Mk X was converted into a flying test-bed.
Two men (unidentified) guide the 1,000th Orenda engine into the fuselage of a Canadair-built Sabre aircraft. On hand for the installation were (left to right standing in foreground) Orenda’s Bill Wilby and John Howlett, inspector for RCAF, and Allan Williams. Photo with permission of Magellan Aerospace Corporation.
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