German Jets in WW II

The history of modern jet powered aircraft starts in Germany in 1939, when the Heinkel He 178 became the first true jet aircraft to fly. Earlier jet-like aircraft, such as the Italian Campini Caproni (used a piston engine to drive a turbine blade) and the amazing airplane built by Henry Coanda in 1910 did not have true jet engines. It's interesting to speculate what path aviation would have taken had Coanda's plane not crashed during an accidental takeoff. The Germans designed, and often put into operation, a staggering number of jet powered aircraft between 1939 and 1945. Many of the designs were little more than scribbles, often in an attempt to keep the engineers employed and away from the front lines. Although most of these designs stayed on paper, they influenced or were the basis of many postwar Russian and US jet designs. The old version of this Web page had some aircraft pictures and text, but I never got around to completing all the entries. Since then, several related - and better - sites have appeared. Some of these pages are linked below. I've also included a Reference section, with some the books on German WWII jets, rockets and other aircraft.