Heinkel He 178

[David]

The German-designed Heinkel He 178 recorded in the annals of aviation history as the first aircraft to achieve flight under the sole power of a turbojet engine. The overall concept was shaped around a rather primitive fuselage fused a pre-existing and ever-evolving turbojet powerplant. The He 178, though sometimes a footnote in history, proved to be an amazing test bed, particularly with furthering German turbojet design for the time.

Development of the He 178 began as early as 1936 when aircraft designer Ernst Heinkel enlisted the help of the engineer Doctor Hans Pabst von Ohain, who had already pioneered tremendous work for Germany in the realm of turbojet design. This joint-venture resulted in their first turbojet production attempt designated as the HeS 1 in 1937. The HeS 3 soon followed and was tested on a suspended He 118 aircraft fuselage to monitor the characteristics of engine in a pseudo-flight arrangement. A specially commissioned aircraft, now designated as our showcased He 178, would feature the improved HeS 3b powerplant and would see a sole prototype production in 1939.

German pilot Flugkapitan Erich Warsitz was enlisted to test flight the He 178 on August 27, 1939, incidentaly this would be a week before the official start of World War Two. The initial flight nearly ended in disaster when a bird flew into the jet inlet, forcing a flame out of the turbojet, sending the Flugkapitan into a (safe) emergency landing. Later powerplant revisions would include the HeS 6 which showcased greater power; unfortunately the He 178 itself was incapable of handling the stress brought about by this new engine, thus limiting the engine to operating at less than full power.

The metal fuselage of the He 178 was of a simple design, with very little attention to detail in the way of complicated structuring, decals or paint schemes. The monoplane wing component (composed almost entirely of wood) sat up on the airframe just behind the cockpit and a single tail rudder was mounted just about the jet exhaust. The jet system ran the length of the fuselage (with the exhaust pipe making up more of that distance than the engine itself) and featured the entire nose element utilized as the jet air intake. The exterior of the exhaust system consisted of a circular vent sitting inside of a rectangular casing. The aircraft featured a retractable landing gear system in a standard gear formation consistent with aircraft design of the time (including the single tail wheel assembly).

In terms of technology for the time, only the British had developed a more advanced and superior powerplant, though it would still be a full two years of testing and design before they would merge the powerplant to an effective fuselage design and achieve turbojet-powered flight.
The original and only He 178 was retired from testing and would never see the light beyond the testing phase. In the end, the single prototype was given away to the Berlin Air Museum for showcasing and, unfortunately, entirely lost to damage during an Allied air raid over the city in 1943. Simple yet extremely adequate for the role, the He 178 played a crucial role in turbojet development, if not for the German Air Ministry, then for aircraft engineering in decades to come.
Specifications for the Heinkel He 178:

Designation: He 178
Manufacturer: Heinkel
Powerplant: 1 x Heinkel HeS 3b centrifugal-flow turbojet engine developing up to 1,102lbs (500kg) of thrust.
Wing Span: 23 feet, 3.5 inches
Length: 24 feet, 6.5 inches
Height: 6 feet, 11 inches
Weight: 3,505lbs (empty); 4,387lbs (Maximum Take-Off Weight)
Maximum Speed: 360 mph
Maximum Range: Not Known
Armament: None. This aircraft was strictly a technology demonstrator to test the capabilities of the turbojet designs.
Crew: 1
Models: A single He 178 is all that was ever produced.