caption death_date death_place image_width birth_place significant_advance birth_date image article_title education name
hans von ohain in the 1970s 13 march 1998 melbourne , florida , united states 150px dessau , duchy of anhalt german empire jet propulsion 14 december 1911 ohain.jpg hans von ohain
 university of göttingen hans von ohain
hans von ohain

hans joachim pabst von ohain -lrb- 14 december 191113 march 1998 -rrb- was a german physicist , and designer of the first `` operational '' jet engine .
his first design ran in march 1937 , and it was one of his engines that powered the world 's first flyable all-jet aircraft , the prototype of the heinkel he 178 -lrb- he 178 v1 -rrb- in late august 1939 .
in spite of these early successes , other german designs quickly eclipsed von ohain 's , and none of his engine designs entered widespread production or operational use .
von ohain started to independently develop his first turbojet engine designs during the same period that frank whittle was working on his own similar designs in britain , their turbojet designs are an example of simultaneous invention .
von ohain 's first jet engine , the heinkel hes 1 ran successfully in april 1937 , the same month that whittle 's first engine , the power jets wu first model also ran successfully .
ohain 's jet engine was the first to fly `` operationally '' within the heinkel he 178 aircraft in 1939 , which was followed by whittle 's engine with-in the gloster e. 28/39 in 1941 .
operational jet fighter aircraft from both germany and britain entered operational use virtually simultaneously in july , 1944 .
after the war the two men met , and became friends .
