Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Stefan wrote in news:156cb$4740457b$54487377
:

I've just stumbled over this picture. Does anybody know what kind of
engine this is?
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0537804&size=M


Yeah, it's the GE unducted fan from the late eighties. The idea was to make
an engine that was more fuel effecient and quiter. AFAIK it was neither.
The props were slightly supersonic and very noisy. A friend of mine saw it
at an airshow around then adn thought it sounded like a Mustang.

I never got to see (or hear) it, but it was featured prominently on
company calendars when I worked at McDonnell Douglas. That same
airframe, earlier in its life, stars in a piece of video floating around
the web. A hard landing in a flight test caused the entire empennage to
break off. Here's a copy of the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUUcxEOniz8