On March 1945 and 18, a group of British B- 17 robotech bombers and B-24 Liberator fighters flew leisurely over the German airspace. Suddenly, 37 German fighter planes appeared, and they sprinted at incredible speed. Surprisingly, these smooth-looking and assembly-line fighters have no propellers. In this encounter, 18 British bombers suffered a fiasco.
What's the matter with this plane without propeller?
16 years ago, 1929, Vettel, a 22-year-old officer of the Royal Air Force, proposed a new aircraft propulsion method: canceling the propeller and piston lift! He thinks it can make the plane fly higher and faster. At that time, people thought that how could an airplane be without a propeller? This is incredible!
Vettel's idea is to use a windmill-like fan to suck in air on a cigar-shaped machine, and the compressed air is heated by fuel, and a large amount of exhaust gas is discharged at high speed, which becomes the driving force for the plane to move forward.
Vettel submitted his ideas to the engine consultants of the British Air Force for review, hoping to get their support, but there was no result. However, one person is very interested in Vettel's idea. He is an instructor at Vettel Royal Air Force Base. His name is Johnson. On June 6th1930,65438+10,65438, Johnson asked Vettel to register with the British Patent Office with this idea. In the following years, he and Vettel lobbied around, but no one was interested, so the idea of jet engine manufacturing was put on hold.
1935 65438+ 10. At this time, Vettel was in financial difficulties and could not afford to pay the patent fee of 25 pounds, so she had to give up. At this time, two businessmen have set up a company to develop engines. Of course they want to put Wei Trla in the past, but the air force department won't. They only agreed that Vettel would work for them 26 hours a week, and as announced, they had to pay the government 25% of the commercial benefits of the products.
At this time, Vettel has overcome the technical difficulties in Britain and manufactured components such as compressors, turbines and combustion systems. He assembled these parts into a huge bass horn. In April 1937, 12, Vettel started the engine. He heard the unique whine of jet engines for the first time. He was confident and increased the speed to 2500 rpm. Suddenly, the whine turned into a shrill scream. He hurriedly turned off the valve, but the engine continued to run for a few seconds. By 1938, Vettel had a splitting headache and almost collapsed, but he persisted. After struggling alone for a year, he finally made a second engine in April this year, but disaster also happened: the turbine worked normally for the first two hours, and the engine broke down at 13000 rpm! Vettel was very depressed because he had no money to build another one.
The European War began at 1939. If the British government supported Vettel from the beginning, it would probably take advantage of the air, but the British authorities ignored him. Fortunately, when Vettel was cornered, the air force department gave him a contract to manufacture light engines for airplanes.
1July, 940, Vettel's engine was running normally, and the thrust was enough to propel a small plane. On the evening of May 194 1, a few seconds after the test pilot climbed into the narrow cockpit of the plane, a small silver plane roared through the clouds. Later, another plane flew to hatfield airport to be inspected by Prime Minister Churchill.
Ohain, a 23-year-old German, and Vettel have similar ideas. As early as 1934, when Ohain was a graduate student in physics at the University of G? ttingen, Germany, he designed the engine sketch himself. The engine was built in early 1939. In July this year, he introduced this jet engine to Hitler with great interest, but Hitler didn't appreciate it. Looks like we have to speak with facts first. So he started making jet planes in secret.
1942 July 18 this plane made its first flight and has been put into mass production by the end of 1943. Finally, this kind of plane attracted Hitler's interest, but he asked to change it into a bomber. Hitler's stupid orders wasted precious 10 months, which made the allied forces control the sky over Normandy and laid the foundation for the landing of the second battlefield in June/944. Later, the German Air Force finally adopted the Me-262 aircraft, which was faster than the allied fighters and could climb higher. However, it was too late, Germany was on the verge of collapse, and the war was over in less than two months.
Because the British and German bureaucrats opposed the idea of "airplane without propeller", the jet plane did not formally participate in World War II, and it was not until the Korean War that the jet plane began to be put into actual combat.
1948, the British government publicly recognized Vettel's contribution and awarded him a knighthood. Since then, many countries, cities, universities and professional groups in the world have awarded him medals, bonuses and honorary degrees in recognition of his outstanding contributions.
After World War II, Ohain also moved to the United States. He first worked as a jet designer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and later transferred to a university as a professor.
1965, two inventors of jet plane, Vettel and Ohain, finally met in New York, USA. This is the first time they met, and they have become good friends since then.
199 1 10 In June, the US government awarded them the Draper Award, the highest award for American engineers.