The HeS 3 was the world's first operational jet engine to power an aircraft. Designed by Hans von Ohain while working at Heinkel, the engine first flew as the primary power of the Heinkel He 178 on 27 August 1939. Although successful, the engine had too little thrust to be really useful, and work started on the more powerful Heinkel HeS 8 as their first production design. A Pratt and Whitney turbofan engine for the F-15 Eagle is tested at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, USA. The tunnel behind the engine muffles noise and allows exhaust to escape. ... Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (December 14, 1911-March 13, 1998) was one of the inventors of jet propulsion, along with Frank Whittle. ... Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. ... The Heinkel He 178 was the worlds first aircraft to fly under turbojet power, and the first practical jet plane. ... August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The HeS 8 was an early jet engine designed by Hans von Ohain while working at Heinkel. ...

In some ways the HeS 3 design was simply a cleanup of the original HeS 1, converted to burn liquid fuel instead of the HeS 1's hydrogen gas. von Ohain was also unhappy with the large external diameter of the HeS 1, and re-arranged the layout of the new engine to allow the parts to be "folded together" in a more compact layout.

The first HeS 3 design was generally similar to the HeS 1, using a 16-bladed centrifugal compressor supported by an 8-blade impeller to smooth out the airflow in the intake. The compressed air flowed into an annular combustion chamber arranged to lie between the compressor and turbine, which were separated much more than in the HeS 1 to allow this arrangement. The first example was bench tested around March 1938, but the arrangement led to a smaller than useful compressor and poor combustion. A centrifugal compressor, also called a radial blower, squirrel cage, or squirrel wheel compressor, consists of an axle to which is mounted a cylindrical assembly of compressor blades. ...

A redesign started as the HeS 3b, which dispensed with the "folded" arrangement and returned to simpler flame cans for combustion. In order to keep the dimensions small, the widest part of the cans were arranged in front of the engine, the compressed air first flowing forward into the cans, and then rearward to the tubine. Although not as compact as the original design, the 3b was much simpler. Designed to run on gasoline, the fuel flow was preheated by running it over the rear roller bearing. A ring of can type combustors circles the mid section of this gas turbine. ...

The engine was completed in early 1939, and was flight-tested under one of the remaining Heinkel He 118 dive bomber prototypes. The flight tests were carried out in extreme secrecy, taking off and landing under propeller power, and only flying in the early morning before other workers had arrived. Testing proceeded smoothly, but the engine eventually burned out its turbine. The Heinkel He 118 was a German dive bomber design that competed with the Junkers Ju 87 for production, but was never ordered for the Luftwaffe. ... A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy. ...

A second engine was completed just after completion of the He 178 airframe, so it was decided to move directly to full flight tests. A short hop was made on 24 August during high-speed taxi tests, followed by full flight on 27 August, the first aircraft to fly solely under jet power. Testing continued and in November the aircraft was demonstrated to RLM officials in hopes of receiving funding for the development of a larger engine, but nothing seemed forthcoming. August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining. ... August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... Reichsluftfahrtministerium ...

Hans Mauch later told von Ohain the RLM was in fact extremely impressed, but he was concerned that Heinkel's airframe team did not have the knowledge to undertake engine development. Instead he and Helmut Schelp secretly visited a number of aircraft engine manufacturers to try to start programs there. Mauch left his position in 1939 leaving Schelp in command. Schelp was not as concerned about where development was taking place, and immediately started funding Heinkel to produce a more powerful engine. Helmut Schelp was the director of advanced engine development at the RLMs T-Amt technical division leading up to and during World War II. He used his office to fund a widespread program in jet engine development, which led to many of the engine concepts still used today. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Work on a larger version, the HeS 6, started immediately, and was tested under a Heinkel He 111 late in 1939. While successful, notably in terms of vastly improved fuel economy, the weight was considered excessive and the design was abandoned in favour of the more advanced Heinkel HeS 8. He 111K The Heinkel He 111 was the primary Luftwaffe medium bomber during the early stages of World War II, and is perhaps the most famous symbol of the German side of the Battle of Britain. ... The HeS 8 was an early jet engine designed by Hans von Ohain while working at Heinkel. ...

Specifications

For HeS 3b:

Dimensions: 1.48 m long, 0.93 m diameter

Weight: 360 kg

Thrust: 450 kgf (4.4 kN) @ 13,000 rpm and 800 km/h

Compression ratio: 2.8:1

Specific fuel consumption: 2.16 gal/(lb·h) [18.0 L/(kg·h)]

For HeS 6: The U.S. National Prototype Kilogram, which currently serves as the primary standard for measuring mass in the U.S. It was assigned to the United States in 1889 and is periodically recertified and traceable to the primary international standard, The Kilogram, held at the Bureau International des Poids et... The deprecated unit kilogram-force (kgf) or kilopond (kp) is the force exerted by one kilogram of mass in standard Earth gravity (defined as exactly 9. ... The kilonewton, symbol kN, is an SI unit of force. ... Bold text The compression ratio is a single number that can be used to predict the performance of any engine (such as an internal-combustion engine or a Stirling Engine). ... Specific fuel consumption, often shortened to SFC, is an engineering term that is used to describe the fuel efficiency of an engine design. ...

Weight: 420 kg

Thrust: 550 kgf (5.4 kN) @ 13,300 rpm and 800 km/h

Specific fuel consumption: 1.6 gal/(lb·h) [13.4 L/(kg·h)]

Specific fuel consumption, often shortened to SFC, is an engineering term that is used to describe the fuel efficiency of an engine design. ...

References

• German Jet Engine and Gas Turbine Development, Antony Kay, Airlife Books, 2002