# List of jet aircraft of World War II

World War II was the first war in which jet aircraft participated in combat with examples being used on both sides of the conflict during the latter stages of the war. The first successful jet aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, flew only five days before the war started on 1 September 1939. By the end of the conflict on 2 September 1945 Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States all had operational turbojet-powered fighter aircraft while Japan had produced, but not used, motorjet-powered kamikaze aircraft, and had tested and ordered into production conventional jets. Italy and the Soviet Union had both tested motorjet aircraft which had turbines powered by piston engines and the latter had also equipped several types of conventional piston-powered fighter aircraft with auxiliary ramjet engines for testing purposes. Germany was the only country to use jet-powered bombers operationally during the war.
This list includes only aircraft powered by turbine engines, either on their own or as part of mixed-power arrangements. Rocket-powered aircraft are not included, nor are aircraft that only flew following the end of the war. Aircraft which were designed but not constructed are also excluded. Production figures for aircraft used postwar include examples built after the war ended, of the same versions already flying during the war.

## Aircraft

| Name | Origin | First flight | Type | Entered service | Number built | Notes |
| Arado Ar 234 | Germany | June 1943 | Combat | August 1944 | 210+ | First jet bomber but used mostly for reconnaissance. Few ever flew. Night fighter tested operationally. |
| Bell P-59 Airacomet | US | October 1942 | Operational | September 1944 | 66 | First USAAF jet to fly, used as trainer only. |
| Bell XP-83 | US | February 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 2 | Cancelled long-range escort fighter. |
| Caproni Campini N.1 | Italy | August 1940 | Prototype | n/a | 2 | First motorjet. |
| Consolidated Vultee XP-81 | US | February 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 2 | Cancelled turboprop and turbojet powered fighter. |
| Curtiss XF15C | US | February 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 3 | Cancelled mixed-power fighter. |
| de Havilland Vampire F.1 | UK | September 1943 | Production | March 1946 | 244 | Only 12 produced before VE Day; no combat service. |
| Douglas XBTD-2 Destroyer | US | May 1944 | Prototype | n/a | 2 | Cancelled jet engine addition to conventional radial engine torpedo bomber |
| Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg | Germany | September 1944 | Operational | October 1944 | 300 | Manned version of the pulsejet powered V-1 flying bomb ready late 1944 but not used. |
| Gloster E.28/39 | UK | April 1941 | Prototype | n/a | 2 | Engine testbed and first Allied jet to fly. |
| Gloster Meteor F.1 & F.3 | UK | March 1943 | Combat | July 1944 | 250 | First operational Allied jet. First jet to down another jet aircraft (a V-1 flying bomb). |
| Heinkel He 162 | Germany | December 1944 | Combat | February 1945 | 238+ | Simple, inexpensive interceptor for use by semi-trained pilots (Volksjaeger); saw little service before war ended. |
| Heinkel He 178 | Germany | August 1939 | Prototype | n/a | 2 | First jet aircraft to fly |
| Heinkel He 280 | Germany | September 1940 | Prototype | n/a | 9 | First jet fighter to fly, cancelled. |
| Horten Ho 229 | Germany | February 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 3 | Fighter/bomber, first jet powered flying wing. |
| Junkers Ju 287 | Germany | August 1944 | Prototype | n/a | 1 | Testbed for multi-engine bomber design. |
| Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star | US | January 1944 | Operational | January 1945 | 361 | First operational US jet fighter. Four deployed during the war, two seeing limited service in Italy, but no combat. |
| McDonnell FD Phantom | US | January 1945 | Production | July 1947 | 62 | Postwar production, designation changed April 1946 to FH. |
| McDonnell TD2D Katydid | US | 1942 | Operational | 1942 | Unknown | US Navy pulsejet-powered target drone. |
| Messerschmitt Me 262 | Germany | July 1942 | Combat | June 1944 | 1,433 | First operational jet fighter as fighter and fighter-bomber, with night-fighter, bomber, and reconnaissance versions trialled. |
| Messerschmitt Me 328 | Germany | 1944 (early) | Prototype | n/a | 9 | Cancelled pulsejet fighter/bomber. |
| Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 | USSR | March 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 28 | Mixed-power motorjet fighter. |
| Nakajima Kikka | Japan | August 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 1 | Jet bomber inspired by Me 262. |
| NAMU TD2N | US | June 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 9 | Target drone based on Gorgon III missile. |
| Ryan FR Fireball | US | June 1944 | Operational | March 1945 | 66 | US Navy mixed power fighter, never saw combat. |
| Sukhoi Su-5 | USSR | April 1945 | Prototype | n/a | 1 | Cancelled mixed power motorjet fighter. |
| Yakovlev Yak-7PVRD | USSR | 1944 (late) | Prototype | n/a | 2 | Mixed-power ramjet fighter. |