G.E. Engineers Test Jet Engine
On this day in 1942, after months of highly secret work, GE engineers in Lynn successfully tested the engine they called by the innocuous name "I-A." It was the first jet engine built in the United States. An English scientist had designed a jet engine in 1941. When an Air Force general saw it power a plane, he was impressed enough to award General Electric a contract to adapt the design to American specifications. Installed with two of these I-A engines, a Bell P-59A aircraft made its maiden flight in the fall of 1942. Building on its success in Lynn, GE's Aircraft Engine division has since become the world's leading producer of jet engines used in commercial and military aircraft.
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