70th Anniversary of the first Jet Powered Aircraft
Just one week before the outbreak of World War II, Germany flew the
world's first jet aircraft.
That plane was the Heinkel He-178 which, had its development been
pushed, might have altered the course of history.
The first successful flights of the world's first turbojet-propelled
airplane took place over a German forest on August 24 and 27, 1939, with
Luftwaffe Captain Erich Warsitz at the controls.
The tiny Heinkel HeS38 jet engine that powered the He-178 produced only
838 pounds of static thrust.
But that was enough to push the small single-seat monoplane to a speed
of well over 400 miles per hour. Thus, even in its earliest test flights
this remarkable aircraft demonstrated performance superior to that of
many operational fighters.
The Heinkel jet engine was the brainchild of a brilliant young German
scientist named Pabst von Ohain, who was only 25 years old when the
He-178 made aviation history.
The aircraft itself was designed by Heinkel engineers, working under the
personal direction of Ernst Heinkel, head of the Heinkel aircraft
manufacturing company.
That firm financed the development of the He-178 without either the
knowledge or financial support of the Nazi government.
The 4,400-pound Heinkel He-178 was literally built around the Ohain
engine.
It had a barrel shaped 24¡Ç-foot-long metal fuselage,with stubby 23¡Ç-foot
wooden wings mounted high on its sides.
The aircraft utilized the conventional three-point retractable landing
gear, rather than tricycle configuration which was later adopted for
other jets.
Despite the He-178's spectacular performance, the German Air Force at
first showed scant interest in the plane..
It wasn't until October 1939 that high-ranking air force officers agreed
to inspect it, and although the He-178 clearly had great potential, it
was never produced in quantity.
Slow to push development work, the German Air Force didn't have an
operational jet fighter plane until August 1944, too late to have a
decisive effect on the outcome of World War II.
Nevertheless. through the foresight of Ernst Heinkel and the brilliant
engineering of Pabst von Ohain, the He-178 ushered in the jet age.