Heinkel He 178 - wikipedia Heinkel He 178 Experimental jet aircraft He 178 He 178 replica at Rostock - Laage Airport Role Experimental prototype / Pioneer aircraft Manufacturer Heinkel First flight 27 August 1939 The Heinkel He 178 was the world 's first aircraft to fly under turbojet power, and the first practical jet aircraft. It was a private venture by the German Heinkel company in accordance with director Ernst Heinkel 's emphasis on developing technology for high - speed flight. It first flew on 27 August 1939, piloted by Erich Warsitz. This flight had been preceded by a short hop three days earlier. Contents 1 Development 2 Significance 3 Specifications 4 See also 5 References 5.1 Citations 5.2 Bibliography 6 External links Development In 1936, a young engineer named Hans von Ohain had taken out a patent on using the exhaust from a gas turbine as a means of propulsion. He presented his idea to Ernst Heinkel, who agreed to help develop the concept. Von Ohain successfully demonstrated his first engine, the Heinkel HeS 1 in 1937, and plans were quickly made to test a similar engine in an aircraft. The He 178 was designed around von Ohain 's third engine design, the HeS 3, which burned diesel fuel. The result was a small aircraft with a metal fuselage of conventional configuration and construction. The jet intake was in the nose, and the aircraft was fitted with tailwheel undercarriage. The main landing gear was intended to be retractable, but remained fixed in `` down '' position throughout the flight trials. The high - mounted wooden wings had the characteristic Günter brothers elliptical trailing edge. Photos showing a `` straight wing '' ( straight - line - taper in the wing planform, for both the leading and trailing edges ) were of the second prototype He 178 V2, which never flew under power. The aircraft made its maiden flight on 27 August 1939, only days before Germany started World War II by invading Poland. The test pilot was Erich Warsitz, who had also flown the world 's first rocket powered airplane, the Heinkel He 176, on its maiden flight in June 1939. Heinkel had developed the turbojet engine and the testbed aircraft, the Heinkel He 178 V1, in great secrecy. They were kept secret even from the German air force and On 1 November 1939, after the German victory in Poland, Heinkel arranged a demonstration of the jet for officials, which Herman Goering, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, did not attend. Ernst Udet and Erhard Milch, Minister of Aircraft Production and Supply watched the aircraft perform, but were unimpressed. While a technical success, speeds were limited to 598 kilometres per hour ( 372 mph ) even when fitted with more powerful HeS 6 1,300 lb thrust engines and combat endurance was only 10 minutes. Undeterred, Heinkel decided to embark on the development of a twin - engine jet fighter, the He 280 as a private venture using what had been learned from the He 178 prototype. The sole He 178 V1 airframe was placed on display at the Berlin Aviation Museum, where it was destroyed in an air raid in 1943. Significance This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2017 ) Memorial plaque honoring the world 's first jet flight from Heinkel 's `` Marienehe '' factory airfield, in today 's Rostock - Schmarl district Ernst Heinkel was disappointed by the lack of official interest in his private - venture jet. In his autobiography, he attributes this to the failure of the leaders of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium to understand the advantages of jet propulsion and what breakthrough the He 178 represented. In fact, the Reich Air Ministry was already developing its own jets, a fact unknown to Heinkel. In 1939, BMW and Junkers were working on `` official '' turbojet engines ( bearing RLM - issued `` 109 - 0xx '' design numbers, used for all gas - turbine propulsion aircraft powerplants ) for the German military. These were axial - flow turbojets, which promised much less drag than the centrifugal - flow turbojets like those being developed at Heinkel and by Frank Whittle in England. In mid September 1939, two weeks after Germany entered World War II, the German air force ordered aircraft manufacturers to reduce development work and concentrate all efforts on winning what German officials expected to be a short war. But the development of jet powered single - seaters was ordered to continue, to get such aircraft operational as fighters as soon as possible. This could have happened had not Willy Messerschmitt cautioned Hitler, in a conversation on 27 June 1943, against mass - production of jets on the grounds of fuel consumption. This seems to have marked a turning point for jet aircraft, Hitler deciding that the most promising jet fighter aircraft be re-purposed as a `` blitz bomber ''. ( Ziegler speculates that the prospect of a damaged but airworthy Me 262 falling into allied hands drove this decision : at the time it was not known that the allies were perhaps only a year behind the technical lead established by Nazi Germany and that the idea of a `` secret weapon '' falling into enemy hands may have played upon Hitler 's mind. Whatever the reason for this pronouncement the effect was to greatly delay the introduction of jets. ) The result of the decision to change the Me 262 from an already capable single - seat fighter / interceptor into -- at best -- a rather indifferent two - seat light bomber was such that operating the type as fighters was delayed by a year and when in squadron service in pitifully low numbers. ( This decision seems even more perverse when conventional fighter - bombers were already available, jet - powered equivalents could have no major effect on the outcome of the war, and the conversion process actively prevented action against the allied heavy bomber ' round - the - clock ' campaign that was slowly degrading Germany 's war production. ) In December 1943, having listened to many and varied objections regarding the ' Blitz Bomber ', Goering issued an order to the effect that by Spring 1944 ' the Luftwaffe ( shall have ) sufficient operational fighter - bombers '. In July 1944 both the German and British air forces began flying jet powered fighters operationally. The British Gloster Meteor F.I, powered by two Rolls - Royce Welland centrifugal - flow turbojets had a maximum speed ( in level flight ) of 692 km / h ( 430 mph ) and thus only equivalent to the best - performing piston engined Allied fighters being flown in combat at that time, whereas the German Messerschmitt Me 262, powered by two Junkers Jumo 004 axial - flow turbojets, had a maximum speed of 870 km / h ( 540 mph ), -- 178 km / h ( 111 mph ) faster than the best piston - engined fighters and had superior climb performance, but those bold statements do not reflect the operational issues surrounding each type : the German jet engines had a service life of about 25 hours ( in part due to the shortage of suitable heat - resistant steel alloys ) while the British centrifugal jet engines could run for 180 hours. While no jet - to - jet air combat took place in July 1944 the first encounter between a German Me 262 and a British Mosquito ( of roughly similar performance to the Meteor ) ended bloodlessly. When used as an air - superiority fighter, the task for which it had been designed, the Luftwaffe 's Me 262s performed admirably but this was at a time when Hitler 's edict that no one could so much as mention the aircraft unless it was in the context of its use as a bomber effectively concealed this inconvenient truth. In September 1944 this policy was reversed but by then it was too late, there were far too few Me 262 available to make a difference, and far too few pilots. By contrast at this stage in the war the RAF used the Meteor to shoot down unmanned V - 1 flying bombs, maintain coastal patrols and for training, where its ability to reach speeds in excess of 500 mph in a dive effectively simulated attacks by the ever - dwindling numbers of technically superior but effectively irreplaceable German jets. Specifications The He 178 V2 ( note the squared - off wingtips ). This particular aircraft flew only as an unpowered glider The He 178 drawing board design General characteristics Crew : One Length : 7.48 m ( 24 ft 6 in ) Wingspan : 7.20 m ( 23 ft 3 in ) Height : 2.10 m ( 6 ft 10 in ) Wing area : 9.1 m2 ( 98 ft2 ) Empty weight : 1,620 kg ( 3,572 lb ) Max. takeoff weight : 1,998 kg ( 4,405 lb ) Powerplant : 1 × HeS 3 turbojet, 4.4 kN ( 992 lbf ) Performance Maximum speed : 598 km / h ( 380 mph ) Range : 200 km ( 125 mi ) See also The unbuilt Heinkel He 178 V2 second prototype Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era Gloster E. 28 / 39 Heinkel He 280 Related lists List of firsts in aviation List of German aircraft projects, 1939 -- 45 List of jet aircraft of World War II List of military aircraft of Germany List of World War II military aircraft of Germany References Citations Jump up ^ Koehler 1999, p. 173. Jump up ^ Koehler 1999, pp. 174 -- 5. Jump up ^ Rickard, J ( 27 November 2009 ). `` Heinkel He 178 ''. Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. Retrieved 22 March 2016. Jump up ^ Smith & Kay 1972, p. 292. Jump up ^ Thorwald, Jürgen, ed. ( 1953 ), Ernst Heinkel : Stuermisches Leben ( in German ), Stuttgart : Mundus, DNB 451925130. Jump up ^ Christopher, John. The Race for Hitler 's X-Planes ( The Mill, Gloucestershire : History Press, 2013 ), p. 59. Jump up ^ Koehler 1999, pp. 160 note 36, 174 note 78 : LC2 Nr. 632 / 39 g. Kdos vom 12. September 1939 Bundesarchiv - Militaerachiv ( BA - MA ) 4406 - 812. ^ Jump up to : Zeigler, Mano ( 2004 ). Hitler 's Jet Planes the Me 262 Story. Translated from the German by Geoffrey Brooks. Greenhill. pp. 71 -- 90. ISBN 1853676241. Jump up ^ Mondey, David, ed. ( 1982 ), The Hamlyn Concise Guide to British Aircraft of World War II, London : The Hamlyn Publishing Group, Aerospace Publishing, p. 121, ISBN 0 - 600 - 34967 - 5. Jump up ^ Mondey, David, ed. ( 1984 ), Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II, London : Temple Press, Aerospace Publishing, p. 188, ISBN 0 - 600 - 35027 - 4. Bibliography Koehler, H Dieter ( 1999 ), Ernst Heinkel -- Pionier der Schnellflugzeuge, Bonn : Bernard & Graefe, ISBN 3 - 7637 - 6116 - 0. Smith, JR ; Kay, Antony L ( 1972 ), German Aircraft of the Second World War, London : Putnam, ISBN 0 - 85177 - 836 - 4. Warsitz, Lutz ( 2009 ), The First Jet Pilot -- The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz, England : Pen and Sword, ISBN 978 - 1 - 84415 - 818 - 8. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heinkel He 178. Erich Warsitz ( official website ), including rare videos of the Heinkel He 178 and audio commentaries. Aircraft produced by Heinkel Company designations pre-1933 HE 1 HE 2 HE 3 HE 4 HE 5 HE 6 HE 7 HE 8 HE 9 HE 10 HE 12 HE 14 HD 15 HD 16 HD 17 HE 18 HD 19 HD 20 HD 21 HD 22 HD 23 HD 24 HD 25 HD 26 HD 27 HD 28 HD 29 HD 30 HE 31 HD 32 HD 33 HD 34 HD 35 HD 36 HD 37 HD 38 HD 39 HD 40 HD 41 HD 42 HD 43 HD 44 HD 45 HD 46 HD 49 HD 50 HD 55 HD 56 HE 57 HE 58 HD 59 HD 60 HD 61 HD 62 HD 63 HE 64 HD 66 RLM designations 1933 -- 1945 He 45 He 46 He 47 He 49 He 50 He 51 He 58 He 59 He 60 He 61 He 62 He 63 He 64 He 65 He 66 He 70 He 71 He 72 He 74 He 100 He 111 He 112 He 113 He 114 He 115 He 116 He 118 He 119 He 120 He 162 He 170 He 172 He 176 He 177 He 178 He 219 He 220 He 270 He 274 He 275 He 277 He 278 He 280 He 319 He 343 He 419 He 519 P. 1041 P. 1054 P. 1060 P. 1062 P. 1063 P. 1064 P. 1065 P. 1066 P. 1068 P. 1069 P. 1070 P. 1071 P. 1072 P. 1073 P. 1074 P. 1075 P. 1076 P. 1077 P. 1078 P. 1079 P. 1080 Strabo 16 Wespe Lerche Foreign designations or built under license Svenska S 5 ( HE 5 ) Orlogsvaerftet HM. II. ( HE 8 ) Aichi Type H Carrier Fighter ( HD 23 ) Type 2 Two - seat Reconnaissance Seaplane ( HD 25 ) Type 2 Single - seat Reconnaissance Seaplane ( HD 26 ) Heinkel Three - seat Reconnaissance Seaplane ( HD 28 ) Aichi E3A ( HD 56 ) Aichi AB - 5 ( HD 62 ) Hitachi AXHei ( He 100 ) Heinkel A7He ( He 112 ) Yokosuka DXHe ( He 118 ) Reich Air Ministry aircraft designations 1 to 100 B 9 Gö 9 Do 10 Do 11 Wn 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Wn 15 Do 16 Wn 16 Do 17 Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Kl 25 Do 26 Kl 26 M 27 Do 29 Kl 31 Kl 32 W 33 L 33 W 34 Kl 35 Kl 36 HD 37 HD 38 G 38 DFS 39 BV 40 DFS 40 A 40 Fw 42 He 42 Fw 43 HD 43 Fw 44 He 45 He 46 Ju 46 Fw 47 Ju 47 K 47 A 48 He 49 Ju 49 He 50 A 50 He 51 K 51 Ju 52 K 53 NR 54 Fw 55 NR 55 Fw 56 Fw 57 Fw 58 He 58 He 59 He 60 Ju 60 Fw 61 He 61 Fw 62 He 62 He 63 Ar 64 He 64 Ar 65 He 65 Ar 66 He 66 Ar 67 Ar 68 Ar 69 He 70 He 71 He 72 He 74 Ar 76 Ar 77 Ar 79 Ar 80 Ar 81 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ar 95 Ar 96 Fi 97 Fi 98 Fi 99 He 100 101 to 200 Al 101 Al 102 Al 103 Fi 103 Fh 104 Kl 105 Kl 106 Kl 107 Bf 108 Bf 109 Bf 110 He 111 He 112 He 113 He 114 He 115 He 116 Hs 117 He 118 He 119 He 120 Hs 121 Hs 122 Hs 123 Hs 124 Hs 125 Hs 126 Hs 127 Hs 128 Hs 129 Hs 130 Bü 131 Hs 132 Bü 133 Bü 134 Ha 135 Ha 136 Hü 136 Ha 137 BV 138 Ha 139 Ha 140 BV 141 BV 142 BV 143 BV 144 Go 145 Go 146 Go 147 Ju 147 Go 149 Go 150 Kl 151 Ta 152 Kl 152 Ta 153 Ta 154 BV 155 Fi 156 Fi 157 Fi 158 Fw 159 Ju 160 Bf 161 He 162 Bf 162 Bf 163 Me 163 Me 164 Fi 166 FK 166 Fi 167 Fi 168 He 170 He 172 He 176 He 177 He 178 Bü 180 Bü 181 Bü 182 Ta 183 Fl 184 Fl 185 Fw 186 Ju 186 Fw 187 Ju 187 Ju 188 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Ao 192 DFS 193 DFS 194 Ar 195 Ar 196 Ar 197 Ar 198 Ar 199 Fw 200 201 to 300 Si 201 Si 202 DFS 203 Si 204 Fw 206 Me 208 Me 209 Me 209 ( 1943 ) Me 210 Hü 211 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217 Hs 217 He 219 He 220 BV 222 Fa 223 Fa 224 Ao 225 Fa 225 BV 226 Ho 226 FGP 227 DFS 228 Ho 229 DFS 230 Ar 231 Ar 232 Ar 233 Ar 234 Do 235 BV 237 BV 238 Fw 238 Ar 239 Ar 240 Go 241 Go 242 Go 244 BV 246 Ju 248 BV 250 Fw 250 Ho 250 Ho 251 Ho 252 Ju 252 Fi 253 Ho 253 Ta 254 Ho 254 Fi 256 Sk 257 Fw 261 Me 261 Me 262 Me 263 Me 264 Fl 265 Me 265 Fa 266 Ho 267 Ju 268 Fa 269 He 270 We 271 Fw 272 He 274 He 275 He 277 He 278 He 280 Fl 282 Fa 283 Ta 283 Fa 284 Fl 285 Ju 286 Ju 287 Ju 288 Ju 290 Me 290 As 292 Hs 293 Hs 294 Hs 295 Ar 296 Hs 296 Hs 297 Hs 298 Fw 300 301 - Me 309 Me 310 Do 317 Do 318 He 319 Me 321 Ju 322 Me 323 Me 328 Me 329 Fa 330 DFS 331 DFS 332 Fi 333 Me 334 Do 335 Fa 336 Fl 339 E. 340 WNF 342 He 343 Rk 344 So 344 Go 345 DFS 346 Rk 347 Ba 349 Ju 352 Me 362 Me 364 Ju 388 Ju 390 Fw 391 Ar 396 Ta 400 Me 409 Me 410 Do 417 He 419 ZMe 423 Ar 430 Ka 430 Ar 432 Do 435 Ar 440 Ju 452 Me 462 Ju 488 Fw 491 Me 509 Me 510 He 519 ZSO 523 Ar 532 Do 535 E. 555 Me 609 Ar 632 Do 635 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heinkel_He_178&oldid=840780432 '' Categories : Heinkel aircraft German experimental aircraft 1930 -- 1939 Single - engined jet aircraft High - wing aircraft World War II experimental aircraft of Germany World War II jet aircraft of Germany Aircraft first flown in 1939 Hidden categories : CS1 German - language sources ( de ) Articles with short description Use dmy dates from July 2013 Articles needing additional references from August 2017 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español فارسی Français Gaeilge 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Slovenčina Slovenščina Suomi Тоҷикӣ Українська Tiếng Việt 19 more Edit links This page was last edited on 12 May 2018, at 03 : 22. 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Question: which german company built the first aircraft to fly under turbojet power
Answer: Heinkel