First flight of a turbojet powered aircraft: On August 27, 1939, just five days before the start of World War II, the Heinkel He 178 took to the air for the first time. The stunning achievement was shrouded in secrecy, and in any event was overshadowed by bigger news when Germany invaded Poland less than a week later. But this technological advance would lead to more public achievements before war’s end: the Heinkel He 280, the Messerschmitt Me 262, Heinkel’s He 162, the Gloster Meteor, and the American P-59 Airacomet and P-80 Shooting Star.
