WE have all heard the roar of jet engines as military planes and jetliners fly overhead. Many of us have even travelled in jet planes. But not many know how the jet engine, which revolutionised air travel, came into being.

There is an old saying that necessity is the mother of invention. It is also man’s curiosity and constant efforts to improve what he has already created, that also lead to inventions.

The story of the jet engine started on December 17, 1903, with the first flight of a craft that was heavier than air. The men behind this monumental achievement were two American brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Orville flew the first flight which lasted 12 seconds at an altitude of 20 feet. Brother Wilbur followed with the second flight which lasted 59 seconds and covered a distance of over over 800 feet.

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The news of the Wright Brother’s achievement spread like wild fire. It started a frenzy of airplane building activity throughout America, Europe, the Russian Empire and Japan. Bigger planes with bigger engines began to be built.

When the WWI began, planes were put into military service, first for reconnaissance purposes and later for fighting. Their effectiveness as weapon performers was not lost on military commanders. These people demanded faster planes capable of delivering a bigger punch over long distances. The engineers went to work on new aircraft designs while engine makers designed more powerful engines.

The years following the WWI saw countries and plane makers producing more and more lethal military aircrafts. This eventually led to the development of jet engines and two personalities share the distinction of inventing the jet engine — Britain’s Frank Whittle and Germany’s Hans von Ohain.

Unable to muster finances to develop a new kind of engine, Whittle’s progress was comparatively slower. That was not the case with von Ohain. A famous German plane maker, Ernst Heinkel of Heinkel Aircraft, commissioned von Ohain to develop the jet engine and offered complete financial and technical support. The engine was built and fitted into Heinkel He 178 experimental aircraft and flew for the first time on August 27, 1939.

For some reason, Heinkel did not pursue further with the development of the engine. However, another German engineer, Anselm Franz, built an engine in 1941, which was suitable to power a jet fighter called Messerschmitt Me 262. It was to become the first jet fighter to enter operational service.

After the war, the Americans took a lead in jet engine manufacture. They were building jet powered fighter planes, such as the F 86 Sabre. By the mid 50s they were building engines powerful enough to allow aircrafts, such as the F-100 Super Sabre, to cross the sound barrier in level flight. The American Air Force mounted eight engines to power the monstrous B-52 bombers.

In 1958, engines had been developed which allowed fighter planes to fly at twice the speed of sound (1,450 miles). There are planes, American and Russian as well as European, which can fly even faster. Jet engines were not only being used in fighter and bomber aircrafts but also on transport aircrafts as well. The jet power was giving more speed, power and economy in fuel consumption.

Before long, jet power commercial aircrafts appeared as well. It started with the British built Comet jetliner. But the plane that really became popular was the Boeing 707 which entered commercial service in 1958. Thereafter, the industry built jumbo jets such as the Boeing 747, the development work of which started in 1966 and made its first commercial appearance in 1970. Its variants are still in service.

In the 1970s the supersonic Concorde, which was jointly developed by Britain and France, began to fly on international routes, mostly across the Atlantic Ocean. It flew at a speed of 1,400 miles an hour. In short, jet engines have been a remarkable invention. They have shortened travel time, thus making the world so much smaller. Jet airliners and military transport can now fly non-stop for well over ten thousand miles.