The First Flying JetAircraft?

Email Me When A New Comment Is Made
Show Only Poster Name and Title Newest to Oldest

Pages: 1 2

Carl S RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 9/3/2005 3:20:58 PM

In general the experiments with jet engines went back much further. Hypothetical proposals were around in the 1920s. As were a lot of other neat ideas that did not work out. The details of the research into jet propulsion and the setting of prioroties are complex & there are vast gaps in my knowledge. Finding the proper alloys for the engine parts was a major obstacle. Politics were another. Hitler was obssesed with offensive weapons. Some German witnesses claim he ordered the Luftwaffes jet aircraft program to design & build bombers, rather than the fighter already being tested in 1942. They claim had he not interfered Small number of German jet interceptors would have been operational in late 1943. Perhaps someone with better refrences than I can comfirm or clarify this.

Quote Reply

timon_phocas RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 9/3/2005 4:50:54 PM

>>Some German witnesses claim he ordered the Luftwaffes jet aircraft program to design & build bombers, rather than the fighter already being tested in 1942. They claim had he not interfered Small number of German jet interceptors would have been operational in late 1943.<< This assertion is also made in "The Devils Disciples: Hitler's Top Lieutenants" (by Anthony Read).

Quote Reply

timon_phocas RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 9/3/2005 4:55:15 PM

I have also read of a French prototype using a pulsejet engine just before World War I. Fuel leaked onto the wing and ignited as the plane rotated for take off, and the aircraft was destroyed. So jet technology was being experimented with for a long time.

Quote Reply

Carl S RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 9/4/2005 8:53:54 PM

"Fuel leaked onto the wing and ignited as the plane rotated for take off, and the aircraft was destroyed." That reminds me of the fate of the first XB17 prototype. On take off it stalled a crashed on the runway killing the test crew. It was found one of the control surfaces had not been "unlocked" thus stalling the plane.

Quote Reply

Heorot RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 9/20/2005 4:37:28 PM

The plane you are referring to was bult by Henri Coanda. The most known, studied, and applied discovery of Henri Coanda is the "Coanda Effect". Coanda realized for the first time what would become known as the Coanda Effect while he was testing his jet airplane, Coanda-1910. After studies which lasted more than 20 years, (carried out by Coanda and other scientists) it was recognized as a new aerodynamic effect. The modern NOTAR helicopter system utilises the Coanda Effect to make it work.

Quote Reply

Witzig RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 1/9/2006 8:28:56 PM

Hi Guys I've got a book on the science of jet engines produced by Rolls Royce, very old and i cannot find it. It says that the design of the Turbo Jet has been around since the 1890's although it remained on paper only. What i'm intrested in is how Frank Whittle is given credit as the desinger of the Turbo Jet and yet the German turbo jets had axial compressors ( Whittle's where centrifrugal ) a feature that is now the standard. Did the germans copy Whittle's pre-war ideas and then change them. The Jumo on the Me262 also had variable area intakes, aux power to start the engine on the ground without the assistance of a big truck etc. Some people are very touchy in England about this and i'll admit ignorance to many aspects of this story and subject but can anyone help clear the story for me?

Quote Reply

Seeker RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 1/11/2006 9:09:18 PM

Here are some links and google search HE-178. It was flying in 1938 as an experimental jet although the British jet engine...how ever this was a turbofan not a turbojet which is what the Germans used in the ME-262. Reason why the germans were first is simple RAF command didn't see the need for a interceptor until the BoB showed them that enemy bombers could range without being intercepted. So the Meteor Jet was developed into an interceptor from 1940 on. Germans issued contracts for an jet interceptor in 1938. The German jet program could have been operational by 1943. Historically it was sidelined in 1940 because Hitler and Goering claimed the war would soon be won and no new weapon was to be pursuit, unless it could be in mass production by 1941. So the jets [along with missiles and Helicopters] were put on the back burner until after Stalingrad. Then Hitler saw the need for them and the design teams increased by a order of magnitude and work was completed on the jet engines by 1944. link link link

Quote Reply

Carl S RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 1/12/2006 7:35:59 AM

And Goddard had been launching practical rockets in the 1920s. He resolved the basics on solid fuels, engine temperatures and materials, the aerodynamics long before 1929. We know how 'nearly' everyone missed that clue. Several electrical engineers including Nickolai Telsa identified the basis for using reflected radio waves for finding the direction and range to a aircraft, or anyother object. But, it was three decades before anyone begain actually using this. For several centuries cryptolygists had understood there was a mathmatical approach to breaking codes. But the lingusitic approach dominated until the late 1920s when Polish mathmaticians specializing in statistical analysis were hired to attack the Reichwehrs new mechanical coding machines. History is littered with new ideas lying dormant & unused by the military.

Quote Reply

Witzig RE:The First Flying JetAircraft? 1/12/2006 1:42:07 PM

There are some things i do know and the British Jet was a Turbo Jet. However its compressor was of the centrifugal type. I'm gonna do some digging on this. To explain exactly what a Turbo Fan is. Turbo fans look like your 777's of today.

Quote Reply

NewOldButNotWise 1/28/2011 12:13:34 PM

Whittle produced a treaty on the "jet" engine in the early 30s this was used by the germans to produce the worlds first jet (they even credited Whittle ) Whittle however had to continue his work as a private company with no govenment support.

The british were unconvinced of trhe benifits of the jet

Whittle knew all about axial flow engines and could have built one, but he reckoned that the technology was not available to produce a reliable engine (the German axial engines tend to support this) so went with the centrifugal an engine he knew he could get reliable

a good story is a postwar test of a whittle engine in a german test rig (one designed for testing jet engines) they ran the whittle then stopped for lunch, the german technicians wanted to know what parts needed changing for the afternoon test and were supprised to find that it was to run exactly as it was in the morning, they changed a large proportion of the axial (if it lasted that long which was unusual) as a matter of course.

Quote Reply

1 2