turboprop

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The C-130 Hercules, powered by turboprop engines.

Tupolev Tu-114 turboprop airliner, prior to a flight carrying Soviet officials from Moscow to New York City in 1959.

turboprop engine driving a single rotation propeller

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turboprop

engineering

Also known as: p jet

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2024 • Article History

Also called:: P Jet

Related Topics:: turbojet; unducted fan; propfan

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turboprop, hybrid engine that provides jet thrust and also drives a propeller. It is basically similar to a turbojet except that an added turbine, rearward of the combustion chamber, works through a shaft and speed-reducing gears to turn a propeller at the front of the engine.

The first experimental turboprop aircraft, a modified Gloster Meteor fighter equipped with two Rolls-Royce Trent units, flew in 1945 in England. The first turboprop commercial airliner to enter scheduled service was the Vickers Type 701 Viscount, April 18, 1953.

As a consequence of improvements in turbojet design, the turboprop—less efficient at high speeds—lost much of its importance in the 1960s, although it was retained for relatively short range aircraft.