Pratt & Whitney J52

The Pratt & Whitney J52, known inside the company as the JT8A, is an axial-flow, twin-spool turbojet in the 40 kN (9,000 lbf) thrust class, designed in the mid-1950s for the United States Navy as a scaled-down derivative of the J57. It was first meant for the A4D-3 Skyhawk, then chosen for the AGM-28 Hound Dog cruise missile and, in 1958, for the aircraft that became the A-6 Intruder, and it stayed in later A-4 Skyhawk models. The engine has a split 12-stage compressor with five low-pressure and seven high-pressure stages, nine can-annular combustors and a two-stage split turbine. The J52-P-408 is rated at 50 kN (11,200 lbf). The J52 is also the basis of the civil JT8D turbofan, which makes it an important step between early military turbojets and the airliner engines that followed.