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Mastering failure: Technological and organisational challenges in British and American military jet propulsion, 1943-57.
- Source :
- Business History; Jul2011, Vol. 53 Issue 4, p479-504, 26p, 2 Black and White Photographs, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart
- Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- This essay undertakes a comparative review of radical innovation in the early Cold War, when UK jet propulsion development far outpaced any US efforts. British ingenuity created a series of jet engines which Americans adopted. One among these, which captures contrasting organisational formats for handling complexity and innovation, was the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, a tough, reliable propulsion system. The USAF's licence assigned production to Curtiss-Wright, which had made piston engines for decades and which spectacularly botched the project, wasting millions. Eventually, the Pentagon shifted the J-65 American Sapphire to GM's Buick division, which finally fabricated adequate but obsolete engines in the mid-1950s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- JET propulsion
TECHNOLOGICAL innovations
COLD War, 1945-1991
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00076791
- Volume :
- 53
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Business History
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 63295206
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2011.578130