a retired compressor rotor blade from the t55 turboshaft engine of the ch-47 chinook helicopter, made into a keychain — solid metal, about 2 in / 5 cm long, on a thin steel wire loop. an edc pocket piece and aviation keepsake.
cold, heavy for its size, and shaped by someone who did the math on air.
the ch-47 chinook is the big twin-rotor boeing helicopter, the one with a rotor at each end. it flies on two t55 turboshaft engines, designed by lycoming and now built by honeywell. inside each engine, rows of small blades like this one spin and squeeze air before it ever meets the fire. this one did that job, then retired.
this batch traces to part number 1-547-2-100-025-07, listed in the u.s. federal stock catalog as nsn 2840-00-556-4373: a compressor rotor blade for the t55-l-7, the engine of the early ch-47a. the shape is still all there: thick at the root, thinning out toward the tip.
no drilled hole. the root already has a tiny air hole, about 0.8 mm across, and the steel wire goes straight through it.
heads up: yours is the unmarked kind. the blades in this batch that still carry the stamp can be looked up by number; ours were polished smooth and the stamp is gone, so we can't tell you which airframe it flew in or for how many hours. marks from its working life may show. the edges are thin but not sharpened. it is not a tool, and not a toy for kids.
material: metal blade (we haven't tested the alloy) · steel wire loop
size: about 2 × 0.6 in / 5 × 1.5 cm (blade)
from: t55-l-7 turboshaft engine · ch-47a chinook · part no. 1-547-2-100-025-07 · nsn 2840-00-556-4373
for: keys, a bag zipper, a pocket, a desk, someone who flies or fixes helicopters
heads up: unmarked — the stamp is polished off, no flight history
no instructions included. it already knows which way the air goes.
go play.
