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  • Sir Isaac Newton in the 18th century was the first to theorize that a rearward-channeled explosion could propel a machine forward at a great rate of speed. This theory was based on his third law of motion. As the hot air blasts backwards through the nozzle the plane moves forward.
  • Henri Giffard built an airship which was powered by the first aircraft engine, a three-horse power steam engine. It was too heavy to fly.
  • In 1874, Felix de Temple, built a monoplane that flew just a short hop down a hill with the help of a coal fired steam engine.
  • In the late 1800’s, Otto Daimler invented the first gasoline engine.
  • In 1894, Hiram Maxim tried to power his triple biplane with two coal fired steam engines, unfortunately only flew for a few seconds.
  • The early steam engines were powered by heated coal and were generally much too heavy for flight.
  • Samuel  a model airplanes that were powered by steam engines. In 1896, he was successful in flying an unmanned airplane with a steam-powered engine, called the Aerodrome. It flew about 1 mile before it ran out of steam. He then tried to build a full sized plane, the Aerodrome A, with a gas powered engine. In 1903, it crashed immediately after being launched from a house boat.
  • In 1903, theWright Brothers flew The Flyer, with a 12 horse power gas powered engine.
  • From 1903to the late 1930s the gas powered reciprocating internal-combustion engine with a propeller was the sole means used to propel aircraft.
  • In 1930, a British pilot, Frank Whittle, designed and patented the first turbo jet engine in 1930. The Whittle engine first flew successfully in May, 1941. This engine featured a multistage compressor, and a combustion chamber, a single stage turbine and a nozzle.
  • At the same time that Whittle was working in England, Hans von Ohain was working on a similar design in Germany. The first airplane to successfully use a gas turbine engine was the German Heinkel He 178, in August, 1939. It was the world’s first turbojet powered flight.
  • General Electric built the first American jet engine for the US Army Air Force jet plane. It was the XP-59A experimental aircraft that first flew in October, 1942.

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