Which fighter became the world’s first turbojet aircraft?
Heinkel He 178. The Heinkel He 178 was an experimental aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. It was the world’s first aircraft to fly using the thrust from a turbojet engine. Frank Whittle, an English inventor and RAF officer, began development of a viable jet engine in 1928, and Hans von Ohain in Germany began work independently in the early 1930s. In August 1939 the turbojet powered Heinkel He 178, the world’s first jet aircraft, made its first flight.On 27 August 1939 the Heinkel He 178, powered by von Ohain’s design, became the world’s first aircraft to fly using the thrust from a turbojet engine. It was flown by test pilot Erich Warsitz. The Gloster E. Gloster Whittle, Gloster Pioneer, or Gloster G.Hans von Ohain of Germany was the designer of the first operational jet engine, though credit for the invention of the jet engine went to Great Britain’s Frank Whittle. Whittle, who registered a patent for the turbojet engine in 1930, received that recognition but did not perform a flight test until 1941.