Description
Book SynopsisThe Whittle-Gloster relationship continued and produced the only Allied combat jet aircraft during the war, the Meteor, which was relegated to Home Defense in Britain.
In America, General Electric copied the Whittle designs, and Bell Aircraft contracted to build the first American jet plane.
Trade Review[C]omplements the definitive history of the technology,
The Origins of the Turbojet Revolution, by Edward Constant II (CH, Jun'81). Pavelec adds the history of the German, British, and American efforts to implement the technology just before and during WW II. This reviewer notes that the seeming backwardness of the US might be attributed to the influence of a 1923 NACA Technical Report that correctly noted that jet propulsion of aircraft would not be efficient before velocities greater than 400 mph were achieved. This velocity was not achieved, except for a few specially designed racing planes, until the 1940s. From that point, the race was on when the German technological advantages were negated by the inability of the German economy to have access to the raw materials required to make durable jet engines. Again, this book complements but does not supersede Constant's definitive volume. Libraries that aspire to, and can afford the cost, of a complete aviation collection should acquire Pavelec's contribution. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice *
The Jet Race is a solid study of jet engines, detailed and well documented. * The Journal of Military History *
Pavelec describes the efforts to develop turbojet airplanes as an effective weapon of war from the beginnings of World War II through its aftermath. His focus is on the technological achievements of the various national government programs and he pays particular attention to the German programs, which produced the most successful aircraft for most of the period until they were eclipsed by the Americans towards the end of the war and into the post-war era. * SciTech Book News *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: The State of Aeronautical Engineering and Aircraft Technology in the World, 1919–1939 1 1 The Birth of the German Jet Program 17 2 Frank Whittle and the "Squirt" 39 3 The Jet Comes to America 64 4 Jets at War: The Operational Record of the German Jets 91 5 Britain Catches Up 110 6 The Americans Take the Lead 128 7 Into the Cold 148 Epilogue 157
Appendices Appendix A: The Choice between Piston and Turbojet Engines 159
Appendix B: Centrifugal-Flow versus Axial-Flow Turbojets 162
Appendix C: Call Signs and Official Designation of the Early Jet Aircraft 168
Appendix D: Biographies 170
Appendix E: Turbojet Aircraft Specifications Requested by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium 176
Table 1: First-Generation Turbojet Aircraft by Nationality 178
Table 2: Second-Generation Turbojet Aircraft by Nationality 179
Notes 183
Bibliography 215
Index 225
