The Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 was a German prototype fighter/bomber designed by Reimar and Walter Horten to be built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik. Developed at a late stage of the Second World War, it was one of the first flying wing aircraft to be powered by jet engines.
Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded in Dessau, Germany, in 1895 by Hugo Junkers, initially manufacturing boilers and radiators. During World War I and following the war, the company became famous for its pioneering all-metal aircraft. During World War II the company produced the German air force's planes, as well as piston and jet aircraft engines, albeit in the absence of its founder who had been removed by the Nazis in 1934.
The Junkers Jumo 004 was the world's first production turbojet engine in operational use, and the first successful axial compressor turbojet engine. Some 8,000 units were manufactured by Junkers in Germany late in World War II, powering the Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter and the Arado Ar 234 reconnaissance/bomber, along with prototypes, including the Horten Ho 229. Variants and copies of the engine were produced in Eastern Europe and the USSR for several years following the end of WWII.
Originally called the He 180, the Heinkel He 280 was an early turbojet-powered fighter aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. It was the first jet fighter to fly in the world.
The Junkers Ju 287 was a multi-engine tactical jet bomber built in Nazi Germany in 1944. It featured a novel forward-swept wing, and the first two prototypes were among the very few jet propelled aircraft ever built with fixed landing gear.
The OKB-1 '140', was a jet bomber produced in the USSR from 1947.
The Henschel Hs 132 was a jet-powered dive bomber and interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Henschel Flugzeugwerke AG. It was developed during the latter portion of the Second World War with the intention of being adopted by the Luftwaffe, but this did not come to fruition.
The Lavochkin La-15, was an early Soviet jet fighter and a contemporary of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 which was in service with the Soviet Air Force from 1949 till 1953.
SNCASO was a French aircraft manufacturer.
The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent, with a design target of 5,000 lbf (22 kN), making it the most powerful engine of its era. First run in 1944, it was Rolls-Royce's third jet engine to enter production, and first ran less than 6 months from the start of design. It was named after the River Nene in keeping with the company's tradition of naming its jet engines after rivers.
The Yakovlev Yak-15 is a first-generation Soviet turbojet fighter developed by the Yakovlev design bureau (OKB) immediately after World War II. The main fuselage was that of Yakovlev Yak-3 piston-engine fighter modified to mount a reverse-engineered German Junkers Jumo 004 engine. The Yak-15 and the Swedish Saab 21R were the only two jets to be successfully converted from piston-power to enter production. 280 aircraft were built in 1947. Although nominally a fighter, it was mainly used to qualify piston-engine-experienced pilots to fly jets.
This article outlines the important developments in the history of the development of the air-breathing (duct) jet engine. Although the most common type, the gas turbine powered jet engine, was certainly a 20th-century invention, many of the needed advances in theory and technology leading to this invention were made well before this time.
The Bréguet Br 960 Vultur was a prototype two-seat carrier-based attack and anti-submarine aircraft (ASW) built for the French Navy during the early 1950s. Meeting contradictory endurance and speed requirements, it was designed as a "mixed-power" aircraft with a turboprop engine in the front and a turbojet in the rear. Only two examples were built, but the second aircraft was rebuilt as the prototype of the Bréguet 1050 Alizé ASW aircraft after the Navy dropped the idea of a turboprop attack aircraft in the mid-1950s.
The Fokker S.14 Machtrainer is a two-seater military training jet aircraft designed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker for the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF). It has the distinction of being one of the first dedicated jet-powered training aircraft to be produced in the world.
The Arsenal VG 70 was a single-seat monoplane research aircraft flown in France shortly after World War II to assist in the development of high-speed jet fighters. Lacking an indigenous turbojet engine, the aircraft was fitted with a German Junkers Jumo 004. Unlike most jet-powered aircraft of the period, the swept wing was wooden as was the tail structure. The under-powered VG 70 made its maiden flight in 1948, but only flew five times before the program was terminated the following year.
The Nord 2200 was a French carrier-based, jet-engined interceptor developed in the late 1940s. It was intended to compete for an Aéronavale contract, but was not selected for production after a 1950 accident badly damaged the sole prototype. It was repaired and resumed flight testing the following year, which including evaluating rocket-assisted take offs. After the aircraft made its last flight in 1954, it was used as a gunnery target. Much of the airframe was recovered in the 1980s, but its current disposition is uncertain.
The SNCASO SO.9000 Trident is a French jet and rocket powered interceptor aircraft built by aircraft manufacturer SNCASO during the 1950s. As part of a wider effort to re-build French military power during the late 1940s and to furnish France with advanced, new domestically produced designs, a request for a supersonic-capable point-defence interceptor aircraft to equip the French Air Force was issued to SNCASO. In response, the firm designed the mixed-propulsion Trident, powered by a single SEPR rocket engine, which was augmented by wingtip-mounted turbojet engines, and the Air Force ordered two prototypes.
The SNCASO SO.4000 was an experimental French twin-engine bomber of the 1950s. It was the first French jet bomber developed, but it never entered operational service.
The SNCASO SO.8000 Narval was a French carrier-based strike fighter designed by Sud-Ouest in the late 1940s. The French Navy ordered two prototypes in 1946 and they made their maiden flights three years later. They were plagued by aerodynamic problems and unreliability issues with their piston engines. The aircraft proved to be slow, lacking in lateral and longitudinal stability and unsuitable for carrier operations; it did not enter production.
The Sud-Ouest SO.6020 Espadon (Swordfish) was a French post-war prototype interceptor designed and built by SNCASO during the late 1940s. The French Air Force judged the design a failure despite some records being set and cancelled plans to put it into service in 1951. Only four aircraft were built and they were later modified to serve as testbeds for the mixed rocket and turbojet-powered SNCASO SO.9000 Trident program. Only one badly damaged aircraft survives.
