The photograph (Flight International, 30 July-5 August) of the Boeing/Cranfield blended wing body (BWB) concept aircraft seems to show the engines installed backwards. The large fan case is facing in the opposite direction of airflow. Let's hope this is not an indicator of future development.
Jeffery Richards
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Editor's note: The engines are indeed mounted with the turbine at the front, or "backwards". However, the engines are not regular turbofans as exist on today's more conventional aircraft layouts. The engines depicted are Rolls-Royce RB 529 contra-rotating engines, which, according to Cranfield University's College of Aeronautics Blended Wing Body Preliminary Design Study BW-98 "decrease the gyroscopic moments applied to the engine. The aft fan configuration lifts the core intake clear of the boundary layer and so enables the top-rear mounted engines to be located close to the fuselage surface."
Source: Flight International
