Hans von Ohain

Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (December 14th 1911 with Dessau in Germany - March 3rd 1998 with Melbourne, Florida) was one of the inventors of the Reaction engine with Frank Whittle.

He studied with the Université of Göttingen where he obtained in 1935 his diploma for the occupation of engineer in Aérodynamique. He became the assistance-assistant of Robert Wichard Pohl, then director of the institute of physics of the city.

Hans Von Ohain began her own research on the jet propulsion in 1935, independently of the work undertaken by Frank Whittle in England. In 1936 it took a patent on its version of the reaction engine. He addressed himself first of all to Ernst Heinkel, which saw the advantages immediately that brought the new principle of propulsion. He was then engaged by the company Heinkel with Rostock and took part in the development of a Turboréacteur with simple flow with liquid fuel, the HeS.3b engine placed in the prototype Heinkel He 178 which was the first plane of this type to steal on August 27th, 1939 at the end of an extremely short phase of development.

Ohain and its mechanic max Hahn alone formed a department within the company Heinkel. The first engine, indicated Heinkel HeS 1, turned already to the bench in 1937. With the difference of Whittle, Ohain used first of all Hydrogène like fuel, it with what it had its first successes. The following projects culminated in the engine Heinkel HeS 3 which provided 550 kp (approx. 5,4 kN) of pushed and was installed in the built cell purposely of the Heinkel He 178.

The first reaction engine produces in series was then the Jumo 004 starting from 1942 which equipped the twin-jet aircraft Messerschmitt Me 262. Approximately 3000 specimens of this engine were manufactured until the end of the Second world war.

Military developments during the Second world war

The German reaction engines all were equipped with an axial compressor and thus had a diameter lower than those of the English radial compressor engines. The main axes of developments ended in the BMW 003 and the Junkers Jumo 004.

The priority on the German side was granted at the speed, consumption, the mass and stability having to be improved later during the development. As from 1941, one wanted to reach a new stake, the push of 800 kp (approx. 7,8 kN). For this purpose, one did not use soon any more a normal gasoline but of the Gazole more easy to obtain and whose Point boiling was higher. That however required to modify the ignition system.

Until the end of the war, approximately 1300 engines BMW-003 and 5000 Jumo 004 were built, their power reaching at the end of the development 900 kp (8,8 kN). The Heinkel engine which equipped HeS 11 was towards the end of the war most powerful in the world and provided a push of 1300 kp (approx. 12,7 kN).

Post-war period

In 1948 von Ohain was transferred to the the United States within the framework from the Opération Paperclip and was affected at the base of the Wright-Patterson air force. In 1956, he became director of the research laboratory of aeronautics of the air force and in 1975 his scientist as a chief.

In 1991 von Ohain and Whittle accepted the Prix Charles Stark Draper for their discoveries on the reaction engine .

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