Used Jet Aircraft

The first flight took place on 27 August 1939. Based on this development, the Anselm Franz jet power plant design engineer from Germany designed an aircraft jet power plant for use in a jetliner. "Meanwhile in England, Frank Whittle created an engines all by himself. In this way the British designed a thruster for another early jet pilot, the Gloster Meteor.

Great Britain used it to defend its home country, but for want of quickness it was not used to fight for Germany. British and US companies share Whittle's technologies, enabling General Electric (GE) to produce power plants for America's first jetliner, the Bell XP-59. Rolls-Royce began work on the Nene in 1944, and the British developed new power plants from Whittle's design.

Nenes was resold to the Soviets - a Russian copy of the jet propulsion system that actually powers the MiG-15 jet hunter who later engaged in fighting US hunters and airplanes during the Korean War. Earlier power plants, such as the Me 262, quickly swallowed gas. Thus a first challange arose: to construct an power plant that could deliver high thrusts with lower mileage.

In 1948, Pratt & Whitney solved this predicament by merging two power plants into one. There were two independent compressor motors in the motor, with the inner compressor providing high density for good power. The J-57 was the result of this effort. As one of the leading post-war power plants, it joined the U.S. Air Force in 1953.

German Hans von Ohain was the engineer who designed the first functional power plant, although Frank Whittle from Great Britain was responsible for the invention of the power plant. Whittle, who applied for a 1930 patents for the turbine jet power unit, obtained this approval, but did not conduct a test flying until 1941.

Mr Ohain was a native of Dessau, Germany, on 14 December 1911. In 1936 a patents application was filed for his turbo jet power unit, Ohain entered the Heinkel company in Rostock. Until 1937 he constructed a factory-tested demo motor and until 1939 a fully functional jet aircraft, the He 178. Shortly thereafter, Ohain led the design of the He S.3B, the first fully functional spin turbine power plant.

It was built into the He 178, which performed the world's first jet fight on August 27, 1939. The Ohain company invented an enhanced motor, the He S. 8A, which was first used on April 2, 1941. However, this concept was less effective than that of Anselm Franz, who powers the Me 262, the first fully functional jetliner.

In 1947 Ohain arrived in the United States and became a research scholar at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Aerospace Research Laboratories, Wright's Aero Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Dayton Research Institute. Ohain has spent 32 years working for the US administration, publishing more than 30 articles and filing 19 US patent applications.

Ohain was awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 1991 as a jet era forerunner. Mr Ohain passed away on 13 March 1998 at his home in Melbourne, Florida.