First jet aircraft (Heinkel He 178)
Primer avión a reacción (Heinkel He 178)
- Date
- 27 de agosto de 1939 · confidence high
- Place
- Rostock-Marienehe, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany
- Credited to
- Ernst Heinkel and Hans von Ohain
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
An experimental monoplane with Hans von Ohain's HeS 3 turbojet, piloted by Erich Warsitz on 27 August 1939, the first flight of an aircraft powered solely by a jet engine. It began the era of the jet aircraft.
The Coandă-1910 is sometimes presented as the first jet aircraft, but its flight is unproven. Whittle flew a jet in 1941 (Gloster E.28/39), after the He 178.
What it led to
- Second World War jet fighters: the Me 262 and Gloster Meteor
- jet airliners: the Comet and Boeing 707