JET ENGINES

 When was the jet engine invented?

The first flight by a jet propelled aircraft was made in Germany on August 27, 1939. Its engine was designed by Hans-Joachim Von Ohain, sho had conceived the idea while a student at Gottingen University in Lower Saxony, Unknown to von Ohain, the British inventor and aviator Frank Whittle had though of the idea some years earlier. But his engine did not have its first flight until May 14, 1941.

Briefly, a jet engine takes in air from the atmosphere, compresses it, and expands it by burning fuel. The mixture of hot gases is then expelled through a nozzle in a powerful backward jet which propels the aircraft forwards.

This forward thrust is the effect of a scientific principle first explained by the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727). He pointed out that with every action there is a reaction which is equal but opposite to it.  The thrust is obtained by the pressure of the jet against the inside of the nozzle and not, as many people suppose, by the exhaust gases “pushing” against the atmosphere.

The jet engine, whether turbo-jet, turboprop, ramjet or turbofan, weighs less than a piston engine of comparative power and can be much more streamlined.