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 cauldronshaped machine that would convert steam pressure into a jet force. He called it the Aeropile.
About 300 years ago, Sir Isaac Newtons 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 fighterthe Gloster Meteor.

Me 262 in

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 Sovietsa 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.

Boeing
707