Gas turbine engine having an automatic ice shedding spinner

In a gas turbine propulsion engine for aircraft in which thrust is provided only from the flow of exhaust gases or a combination of flow of exhaust gases and by-pass air, said engine having an air inlet and an exhaust gas outlet, the improvement in a spinner positioned in the forward end of said air inlet for automatically shedding ice accretions at operational rotations of the engine, said spinner comprising:

• a conical member having an included conical angle in the range of substantially 45.degree. to substantially 57.degree. and an overall axial length in the range of substantially 290 mm. to 375 mm., said conical member having a frusto-conical main body portion and a solid pointed cone-shaped tip portion attached thereto by a bond, said solid pointed cone-shaped tip portion of said spinner having an axial length relatively shorter than an axial length of said frusto-conical main body portion and said axial length of said solid pointed cone-shaped tip portion being no greater than 75 mm. and no less than 50 mm., said frusto-conical main body portion being manufactured from a material rigid at operational rotations of the spinner, and said solid pointed cone-shaped tip portion having at least a surface made of a different material from and flexible relative to said rigid material of said frusto-conical main body portion, said different material of the at least said surface of said solid pointed cone-shaped tip portion being flexible at said bond during operational rotation of the spinner causing local high stress levels to be produced and cracks propagated in any ice at said bond with surface deflection of the remainder of the at least said surface of said solid pointed cone-shaped tip portion causing any accretion of ice thereon to shed from the remainder of the spinner.