HISTORY OF JET AIRCRAFT

A jet propulsion mechanism was conceptualized long before the jet plane was ever

manufactured. As early as 150 BC, the Egyptian philosopher Hero visualized a cauldron-

shaped machine that would convert steam pressure into a jet force. He called it the Aeropile.

About 300 years ago, Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion further developed the concept

of jet force propulsion by explaining that “for every action there is an equal and opposite

reaction.” He proposed the idea of a horseless vehicle called the Newton Steam Engine that

would use jet propulsion to move.

The development of the jet engine made a drastic leap when, in 1928, Sir Frank Whittle

offered the first real practical idea which could be effectively used in an aircraft. By 1930, the

idea of the jet engine is patented, but it was not until 1937 that the idea took off.

Before World War II, in 1939, jet engines primarily existed in labs. The end of the war,

however, illustrated that jet engines, with their great power and compactness, were at the

forefront of aviation development. A young German physicist, Hans von Ohain, worked for

Ernst Heinkel, specializing in advanced engines, to develop the world's first jet plane, the

experimental Heinkel He 178. It first flew on August 27, 1939.

Heinkel He 178, the world's first aircraft to fly purely on turbojet power

Building on this advancement, German engine designer Anselm Franz developed an engine

suitable for use in a jet fighter. This airplane, the Me 262, was built by Messerschmitt.

Though the only jet fighter to fly in combat during World War II, the Me 262 spent a

significant amount of time on the ground due to its high consumption of fuel. It was often

described as a “sitting duck for Allied attacks.” Meanwhile, in England, Frank Whittle

invented a jet engine completely on his own. The British thus developed a successful engine

for another early jet fighter—the Gloster Meteor. Britain used it for homeland defence but,

due to lack of speed, it was not used to combat over Germany.

The British shared Whittle's technology with the U.S., allowing General Electric (GE) to

build jet engines for America's first jet fighter, the Bell XP-59. The British continued to

develop new jet engines from Whittle's designs, with Rolls-Royce initiating work on the

Nene engine during 1944. The company sold Nenes to the Soviets—a Soviet version of the

engine, in fact, powered the MiG-15 jet fighter that later fought U.S. fighters and bombers

during the Korean War.

MiG-15

The 1945 surrender of Germany revealed substantial wartime discoveries and inventions.

General Electric

and Pratt &

Whitney, another

American

engine-builder,

added German

lessons to those

of Whittle and

other British

designers. Early jet engines, such as those of the Me 262, gulped fuel rapidly. Thus, an initial

challenge was posed: to build an engine that could provide high thrust with less fuel

consumption.

Pratt & Whitney resolved this dilemma in 1948 by combining two engines into one. The

engine included two compressors; each rotated independently, the inner one giving high

compression for good performance. Each compressor drew power from its own turbine;

hence there were two turbines, one behind the other. This approach led to the J-57 engine.

Commercial airliners the Boeing 707, the Douglas DC-8 flew with it. One of the prominent

post war engines, it entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1953.

Me 262 in flight

Boeing 707