Ernst Heinkel Dr . Ernst Heinkel ( January 24 , 1888 – January 30 , 1958 ) was a German aircraft designer , manufacturer , Wehrwirtschaftsführer in the Third Reich , and member of the Nazi party . His company Heinkel Flugzeugwerke produced the Heinkel He 178 , the world ' s first turbojet aircraft and jet plane , and the Heinkel He 176 , the first rocket aircraft . He was awarded the German National Prize for Art and Science in 1938 . Early life . He was born in Grunbach , today a part of Remshalden . As a young man he became an apprentice machinist at a foundry . Heinkel studied at the Technical Academy of Stuttgart , where he initially became interested in aviation through a fascination with Zeppelin s , and in 1909 attended an international airshow in Frankfurt am Main . He determined flight was the future of transportation , and the following year , he built his first aircraft , working from a set of plans by Henri Farman . Heinkel crashed the plane in 1911 and suffered severe injuries . Albatros Flugzeugwerke . Soon afterwards , he gained employment at Luft - Verkehrs Gesellschaft ( LVG ) , who were building Farman aircraft . From there , he went to Albatros , where Heinkel designed the Albatros B - II , a reconnaissance aircraft used during the early stages of the First World War . His planes were used by the Austro - Hungarian army and German navy during the war . After leaving the Albatros , Heinkel designed several land - and seaplanes for the Hansa - Brandenburg company starting in 1914 . Heinkel - Flugzeugwerke . In 1921 , Heinkel was appointed head designer of the recently re - established Caspar - Werke , but soon left after a dispute over ownership of a design . In 1922 he established the Heinkel - Flugzeugwerke company at Warnemünde . Due to the restrictions placed on German aircraft manufacturing by the Treaty of Versailles , Heinkel looked overseas for contracts , with some seaplane designs being licence - built in Sweden and working on catapult - launched seaplanes for the Imperial Japanese Navy . He installed a similar catapult on the ocean liner Bremen for launching mail plane s . Versailles Treaty violations . Between 1921 - 1924 , the Japanese government placed several orders with Heinkel ' s company , and helped him skirt the Versailles Treaty , which banned the construction of military aircraft in Germany , by informing the company of facility inspections by allied commissions in advance . Japan was part of the inspection commission . Heinkel hid his aircraft in dune s behind his plant and were never discovered during inspections . Heinkel noted in his memoirs that his company ' s relationship with Japan in the 1920s led to decades of cooperation . 1933 - 1945 . After Adolf Hitler came to power , designs by Heinkel ' s firm formed a vital part of the Luftwaffe ' s growing strength in the years leading up to the Second World War . This included the Heinkel He 59 , the Heinkel He 115 and the Heinkel He 111 . He was designated a Wehrwirtschaftführer ( ~ defence industry leader ) by the German government for his commitment to rearmament . Heinkel was passionate about high - speed flight , and was keen on exploring alternative forms of aircraft propulsion . He donated aircraft to Wernher von Braun who was investigating rocket propulsion for aircraft , as well as sponsoring the research of Hans von Ohain into turbojet engines , leading to the flight of the Heinkel He 178 , the first aircraft to fly solely under turbojet power by Erich Warsitz on August 27 , 1939 . Heinkel had been a critic of Hitler ' s regime concerning being forced to fire Jewish designers and staff in 1933 , however , he was a member of the Nazi party , awarded the German National Prize for Art and Science in 1938 , one of the rarest honors of the German government , and he used forced Jewish labor starting in 1941 , in which his company was considered a " model for slave labor . " In 1942 the government " nationalised " the Heinkel works . In practice , this meant that Heinkel was detained until he sold his controlling interest in his factories to Hermann Göring . Heinkel moved to Vienna and started a new design bureau there , working on the Heinkel He 274 design until the war ended . Post - war . With Germany forbidden from manufacturing aircraft by the Allies , Heinkel used his company ' s facilities to build private transportation . In 1953 Heinkel began production of the Tourist scooter , followed by the Perle moped in 1954 . In 1956 he introduced the Heinkel Kabine bubble car . Bubble car and moped production ceased shortly after the restriction on aircraft manufacture was lifted , but scooter production continued until 1965 . In 1959 , Heinkel ' s company was sued by Edmund Bartl for being enriched by slave labor during World War II , however , the German Supreme Court dismissed his claims for filing too late and ordered Bartl to pay court costs and attorney ' s fees . Death . Ernst Heinkel died in 1958 in Stuttgart . His autobiography , " Stürmisches Leben " was published in 1956 and translated into English as " He1000 " in its British edition and " Stormy Life : Memoirs of a Pioneer of the Air Age " in its US edition .