Hans von Ohain

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Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (14 December 1911 – 13 March 1998) was a German-American physicist, engineer, and the designer of the first aircraft to use a turbojet engine. Together with Frank Whittle and Anselm Franz, he has been described as the co-inventor of the turbojet engine. Additionally, prior to building his engine and filing his own patent in 1935, von Ohain had read and critiqued Whittle's patents. Von Ohain stated in his biography that "My interest in jet propulsion began in the fall of 1933 when I was in my seventh semester at Göttingen University. I didn't know that many people before me had the same thought." Unlike Whittle, von Ohain had the significant advantage of being supported by an aircraft manufacturer, Heinkel, who funded his work. When in 1935 von Ohain designed his overall engine layout, he based it for compactness on a centrifugal impeller (centrifugal or radial compressor) and a radial inflow turbine. Ultimately, this configuration had too many shortcomings...

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