SNECMA Escopette Pulsejet Engine

Type: Pulsejet

Thrust: 98 N (22 lb)

Specific fuel consumption: 17.6 N/kg/hr (1.8 lb/lb/hr)

Weight: 4.8 kg (10.6 lb)

SNECMA's work on pulse-jets began in 1943 with the objective of producing a simple jet engine. This artifact is an Escopette (Carbine) model and was the first of the SNECMA pulse-jet models. It has no moving valves, being of the resonant-duct type, but develops power while static (i.e. unlike a ramjet engine), and is thus capable of powering aircraft takeoff. Power is obtained by the successive bursts of a carbureted mixture produced at the rate of 100 per second, and by careful control of pressure waves caused by these bursts, which are reflected in expansion waves on both ends of the engine. Despite their low pressure cycle, they have a specific fuel consumption of the same order as that of turbojet engines with afterburners.

In 1950, an Emouchet glider fitted with four Escopettes made its first flight. Development of higher power pulse-jets continued in the 1950s for target drones, helicopter rotor-tip propulsion, and other industrial uses.