The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed Schwalbe in fighter versions, or Sturmvogel in fighter-bomber versions, was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but problems with engines, metallurgy and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. The Me 262 was faster and more heavily armed than any Allied fighter, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor. One of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during World War II, the Me 262's roles included light bomber, reconnaissance and experimental night fighter versions.
The Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 was a German prototype fighter/bomber initially designed by Reimar and Walter Horten to be built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik late in World War II. It was the first flying wing to be powered by jet engines.
The Arado Ar 234 Blitz was the world's first operational jet-powered bomber, built by the German Arado company in the closing stages of World War II.
Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG more commonly Junkers[ˈjʊŋkɐs], was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there 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 some of the most successful Luftwaffe 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.
The BMW 003 is an early axial turbojet engine produced by BMW AG in Germany during World War II. The 003 and the Junkers Jumo 004 were the only German turbojet engines to reach production during World War II.
The Junkers Ju 287 was an aerodynamic testbed built in Nazi Germany to develop the technology required for a multi-engine jet bomber. It was powered by four Junkers Jumo 004 engines, featured an unusual and novel forward-swept wing, and apart from the wing was assembled largely from components scavenged from other aircraft. It was one of the very few jet propelled aircraft ever built with fixed landing gear.
The Messerschmitt Me 328 was originally designed as a parasite aircraft to protect Luftwaffe bomber formations during World War II. During its protracted development, a wide variety of other roles were suggested for it. Late in the war, the design was resurrected for consideration as a Selbstopfer aircraft, but was judged unsuitable even for this purpose. The tiny fighter was to have been propelled by pulsejets, but the unsuitability of these engines doomed the Me 328 from the start.
The Supermarine Attacker is a British single-seat naval jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The type has the distinction of being the first jet fighter to enter operational service with the FAA.
The Lavochkin La-15, was an early Soviet jet fighter and a contemporary of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15.
SNCASO was a French aircraft manufacturer.
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 Gloster E.1/44 was a British single-engined jet fighter design of the Second World War, developed and produced by the British aviation firm Gloster Aircraft Company. It was amongst the first jet-propelled aircraft to be developed and was produced on an experimental basis.
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 Arsenal VG 90 was a French carrier-based jet-engined interceptor developed in the late 1940s. It was intended to compete for an Aéronavale contract and first flew in 1949. It set a speed record for a French aircraft the following year, but both of the completed prototypes were destroyed in fatal crashes and the program was cancelled in 1952 before the third prototype was finished. The Aéronavale contract was eventually awarded to a license-built British aircraft. The remains of the last VG 90 were scrapped in 1978.
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 was a French mixed-power 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 jet-bomber aircraft 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.
