Heinkel He 178

The Heinkel He 178, built by the German company Heinkel, holds the distinction of being the world’s first aircraft to fly powered solely by a turbo‑jet engine. Designed by Ernst Heinkel and his team in the late 1930s, the prototype made its historic maiden flight on August 27 1939 at the Heinkel airfield in Rostock‑Schmarl, piloted by Erich Warsitz. The aircraft was a compact, low‑wing monoplane with a sleek, all‑metal construction, a retractable single‑wheel landing gear and a streamlined nose that housed the pioneering Heinkel HeS 3b axial‑flow turbojet, delivering about 7.8 kN (1,750 lbf) of thrust. Its maximum speed reached roughly 700 km/h (435 mph) and it could climb to 3,000 m in under four minutes—performance far exceeding contemporary piston‑engine fighters. Although only one prototype was built and the program was halted by the outbreak of World War II, the He 178 demonstrated the practical viability of jet propulsion and provided invaluable data on engine reliability, fuel consumption, and aerodynamic heating. This breakthrough laid the technical foundation for later German jet fighters such as the Messerschmitt Me 262 and ultimately accelerated the global transition to jet‑powered aviation. Its legacy continues to inspire modern aerospace engineering.

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