Germany led the way in turbojet development from the early 1930s. Although Frank Whittle of Britain proposed his concept of a turbine-powered plane, the Allies were mostly working with piston-engine propeller planes. As was Germany, but the concept met some initial acceptance there. Hans-Joachim Pabst von Ohain, a doctorate student at the University of Goettingen began developing gas turbine engines in 1933, and his research led directly to an early jet plane that flew just as WW II was getting under way.

On this day, August 27, in 1939, the Heinkel He-178, powered by engines built at the Brandenburg Motor Works (which after the war would be known for manufacturing automobiles), few for the first time.

The flight lasted about five minutes, with the test pilot reporting “no vibration and no torque like a propeller engine.” Still, the early prototype could not keep up with the best propeller planes of the times and failed to impress the German air force authorities. Ohain and the aircraft manufacturer Ernst Heinkel were told “Your turbojet is not needed. We will win the war on piston engines.”