The Jet Engine and Mass Air Travel

Propeller planes struggled to fly faster and higher. The jet engine, which pushes aircraft forward by expelling hot gases, was developed independently by Frank Whittle in Britain, who filed a patent in 1930, and Hans von Ohain in Germany, whose engine powered the Heinkel He 178 on the first jet flight on 27 August 1939. After the war, jets transformed civil aviation. The British de Havilland Comet began the first jet airliner service in 1952, but crashes in 1954 caused by metal fatigue grounded it, and the investigation improved safety engineering.

The Boeing 707 entered service in 1958, and the wide-body Boeing 747 in 1970. Air travel became faster and, over decades, cheaper, enabling mass tourism, migration and global business. It also contributed to the rapid spread of infectious diseases and to carbon emissions, showing how one technology can have wide-ranging effects.