Turbojet Engine

The turbojet is the basic engine of the jet age. It is the simplest turbine-based jet engine. It is a reaction engine, which was invented by the two fathers of jet engines: Frank Whittle from Britain and von Ohain from Germany. The first flight of an airplane powered by a turbojet engine was the He 178, a German aircraft powered by the He S-3 engine, on August 27, 1939. Based on von Ohain’s work, the German engine designer Anselm Franz developed his turbojet engine that powered the jet fighter Me 262 built by the firm Messerschmitt. Frank Whittle in England, who was not familiar with Ohain’s engine, built his W.1 turbojet engine, which powered the Gloster E28/39 aircraft. As described in Chapter 1 , the future of aviation lies with jets.