Month: October 2020

  • Tanegashima’s Group: Birth of the Japanese Jet Engine

    Tanegashima’s Group: Birth of the Japanese Jet Engine

    By the 1930s, the practical speed limit of piston-engined aircraft was being approached for the first time. Before a propeller-driven airplane can approach the speed of sound, there is a period where the blade tips must reach supersonic speed, resulting in massive turbulence and loss of efficiency. This effect imposes a rough ‘limit’ on the…