Description

The T56 is a single shaft, modular design, turboprop engine with a 14-stage axial flow compressor driven by a four-stage turbine unit. The gearbox has two stages of gear reduction, features a propeller brake and is connected to the power section by a torquemeter assembly. Other engine modules are the can-annular type combustor and the accessory drive housing.

The T56 military turboprop and its commercial version, the 501-D are the leading large turboprop engines in the world on the basis of the number of units sold and more than 200 million operating hours.

Since the engine entered production in 1954 over 18,000 T56/501-D turboprops have been installed on a wide variety of propeller-driven aircraft, including Lockheed Martin's ubiquitous C-130 Hercules and L-100 transports, Northrop Grumman's E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft and Lockheed's P-3 Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The Convair 580 and Lockheed Electra are still in commercial passenger and cargo service around the world.