page_title: Aviation between the World Wars
section_title: Aeronautical advances
hierarchical_section_title: Aviation between the World Wars / Aeronautical advances
caption_attribution_description: English: ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky" near Khodynka aeroport. Русский: Самолёт "Максим Горький" подлетает к Центральному московскому аэродрому им. Фрунзе. Внизу - современный Парк Авиаторов, Чапаевский переулок и здание гостиницы "Сокол".
context_page_description: Sometimes dubbed the Golden Age of Aviation, the period in the history of aviation between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II was characterised by a progressive change from the slow wood-and-fabric biplanes of World War I to fast, streamlined metal monoplanes, creating a revolution in both commercial and military aviation. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939 the biplane was all but obsolete. This revolution was made possible by the continuing development of lightweight aero engines of increasing power. The jet engine also began development during the 1930s but would not see operational use until later.
  During this period civil aviation became widespread and many daring and dramatic feats took place such as round-the-world flights, air races and barnstorming displays. Many commercial airlines were started during this period. Long-distance flights for the luxury traveller became possible for the first time; the early services used airships but, after the Hindenburg disaster, airships fell out of use and the flying boat came to dominate.
context_section_description: During the late 1920s and early 1930s the available power from aero engines increased significantly, making possible the adoption of the fast cantilever-wing monoplane, originally pioneered as far back as late 1915. The ability to handle the high mechanical stresses imposed by this advanced form of airframe design philosophy suited the all-metal aircraft construction techniques pioneered by some earlier designers, and the increasing availability of high strength-to-weight aluminum alloys — first used by Hugo Junkers in 1916-17 as duralumin for his all-metal airframe designs — made it practical, allowing the earliest all-metal airliners like the Ford Trimotor designed by William Stout, and Junkers' own pioneering airliners like the Junkers F.13 to be built and accepted into service.  When Andrei Tupolev likewise used the Junkers firm's techniques for all-metal aircraft construction, his designs ranged in size to the enormous, 63 meter (206 ft) wingspan eight-engined Soviet Maksim Gorki, the largest aircraft built anywhere before World War II.
  The de Havilland DH.88 Comet racer of 1934 was one of the first designs to incorporate all the features of the modern fast monoplane, including; stressed-skin construction, a thin, clean, low-drag cantilever wing, retractable undercarriage, landing flaps, variable-pitch propeller and enclosed cockpit. Unusually for such a highly stressed wing at that time it was still made of wood, with the thin stressed-skin design made possible by the appearance of new high-strength synthetic resin adhesives.
  The Comet was powered by two race-tuned but otherwise standard production de Havilland Gipsy Six engines with a combined output of 460 hp (344 kW). This compares for example on the one hand to the single 180 hp engine fitted to the Junkers CL.I all-metal monoplane of 1918 and to the 1,172 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin C development engine which powered the prototype Spitfire in 1936.
  In the 1930s development of the jet engine began in Germany and in England. In England Frank Whittle patented a design for a jet engine in 1930 and towards the end of the decade began developing an engine. In Germany Hans von Ohain patented his version of a jet engine in 1936 and began developing a similar engine. The two men were unaware of the other's work, and both Germany and Britain would go on to develop jet aircraft by the end of World War II. In Hungary, György Jendrassik began construction of the world's first turboprop engine.
caption: The Tupolev-designed Maksim Gorky, the largest fixed-wing aircraft built anywhere before World War II
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