From the propeller to the jet engine

Messerschmitt Me 262A.

In the three decades following the Wright’s flight, aircrafts were always equipped with a propulsion system with internal combustion engines. Towards the end of World War II, however, Germany developed a new propulsion system, more powerful than internal combustion engines. This new system put in troubles  the RAF (Royal Air Force), with the construction of the Messerschmitt Me 262, decimating British aircrafts and turning around the fortunes of war for the Reich. The concerning innovation is that of the jet engine. This is engine uses the “principle of action and reaction” to transform the mass expelled, or jet, into kinetic energy. The impulse response, which allows the movement is proportional to the mass flow of gas passing through the engine and the speed difference between the exhaust and the speed of the aircraft. As other events of major importance in the evolution of flight, the jet engine has made possible intercontinental flights, but also because it allowed spaceflights, where propellers can’t be used.