Timeline of Jet Power - 1941

1941

• February: The Air Ministry places an order for 12 Gloster Meteor.
• February: NACA starts testing their "Propulsive duct engine", a ramjet, unaware of earlier similar efforts. Since ramjets need to be moving in order to work, NACA engineers take the simple step of mounting it at the end of a long arm and spinning it.
• April: The He 280 flies under its own power for first time, powered by two Heinkel HeS 8 (-001) engines. The HeS 8's continue to have reliability issues.
• May: The Gloster E.28/39 flies for the first time. Over the next few weeks, the top speed soon passes any existing propeller aircraft.
• Müller's Heinkel HeS 30 (-006) axial-flow engine runs for first time.
• General Electric is awarded a USAAF contract to develop a turboprop engine, leading to the TG-100 / TG-31 / XT-31 series, and later the J35.
• Work on the Jendrassik Cs-1 ends. Intended to power a twin-engine heavy fighter, the factory is selected to produce Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines under license for the Messerschmitt Me 210 instead.
• October: A Power Jets W.2B is sent to General Electric to start production in the US. Sanford Alexander Moss is lured out of retirement to help on the project.
• The Switzerland turbine-powered train enters testing.