Significance
Ernst Heinkel was disappointed by the lack of official interest in his private-venture jet. In his autobiography, he attributes this to the failure of the leaders of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium to understand the advantages of jet propulsion and what breakthrough the He 178 represented. Similar claims are common in literature on Heinkel, and were made on the previous version of this page. However, the reason the Reich Air Ministry was not interested, was because it was developing jets itself. Nobody at Heinkel knew anything about these secret military projects.
In 1939 BMW and Junkers were working on "official" turbojet engines for the German airforce. As these were axial-flow turbojets, not radial-flow turbojets like those being developed at Heinkel and by Frank Whittle in England, they promised much higher flight speeds.
In mid September 1939, two weeks after Germany started World War II, the German air force ordered aircraft manufacturers to reduce development work and concentrate all efforts on winning what German officialdom expected to be a short war. But the development of jet powered single-seaters was ordered to continue, to get such aircraft operational as fighters as soon as possible.
In July 1944 both the German and British air forces began flying jet powered fighters operationally. The British Gloster Meteor F.I, powered by Rolls-Royce Welland radial-flow turbojets, had a maximum speed (in level flight and at optimum altitude) of 430 mph (668 km/h). This was about the same as piston engined fighters being flown in combat at that time. The German Messerschmidt Me 262, powered by Junkers Jumo 004 axial-flow turbojets, had a maximum speed of 540 mph (870 km/h)), 100 mph faster than the best piston engined fighters. It also had superior climb performance. The Luftwaffe flew the Me 262 in combat as an air-superiority fighter. The RAF used the Gloster Meteor for interception of V-1 flying bombs, coastal patrols and for training, where its ability to reach speeds of over 500 mph in a dive could simulate attacks by German jets.
Read more about this topic: Heinkel He 178
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