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sink-me
Jet Propulsion Isn't New!
By William R. Suda
Experimentation in Jet Power Began as Long Ago as Two Thousand Years
The notion that jet propulsion and guided missiles are comparatively recent innovations
of warfare has been fostered by the secrecy which surrounded all experiments and
developments during the ·last war. In reality, however, the principle of jet-propelled
missiles is an ancient one.
• Hero's aeolipile: reaction propulsion.
Over 2,000 years ago Hero, ancient Alexandrian philosopher conceived and utilized
the same principle employed in the steam and gas turbine and jet-propelled planes
of today in his "aeolipile." But since slaves were less expensive there was no use
for the weapon and it remained in the toy stage.
Nothing more was heard of the principle until the year 1232 when, during the
battle of Pien King, between the Chinese and Tartars, the defenders of the city
used a rocket-propelled arrow for their defense.
Two hundred years later an Italian engineer, Joanes DeRontana, used rockets on
wheels disguised as rabbits, pigeons and fish which propelled themselves toward
the enemy, lines.
• Rocket arrow used by Chinese in Pien King battle.
• DeRontona rocket disguised as animal fooled the enemy.
• XS-1, Chinese style. Did not achieve the same results.
• First proposal for steam turbine was by Branca, 1629.
• Isaac Newton's proposed jet-propelled steam carriage.
• Congreve's rocket, mentioned in Star Spangled Banner.
The distinction of being the first jet-propelled human, falls to a Chinese gentleman
and scholar, Wan Hoo. Forty-four years before the conquest by the Manchus, Van Hoo
attached 47 rockets and two large kites to a chair, sat himself in the chair and
had 47 coolies ignite the rockets. Unfortunately posterity has no record of what
happened to Wan Hoo.
A quarter of a century later Giovanna Branca perfected a steam engine with a
direct application of the jet principle. This engine was the forerunner of the modern
steam turbine.
Several years prior. to Branca's steam engine Sir Isaac Newton planned a jet-propelled
wagon. This wagon was to be propelled by steam emerging from a nozzle in the rear.
In the Paris of 1783 Parisians were astonished when an engineer named Abbe Mollan
and a partner lofted a balloon steered and propelled horizontally by jets. A series
of holes located around the center of the balloon were covered by flaps attached
to strings. By pulling the proper strings, a flap could be released and the balloon
propelled in the desired direction - it says here in fine type at the bottom of
the history page.
Shortly after Mollan's experiment an Englishman, John Barber, secured a patent
for a turbine containing a gas producer, a compressor, a turbine wheel and reduction
gears, but it never progressed beyond the patent state.
In the latter part of the 18th century the Ruggieri brothers were the experts
on pyrotechnic rockets. They shot rockets carrying small animals into the air and
landed them safely with parachutes.
The idea of rockets as a military weapon was expanding as is evidenced by the
first rocket corps. Organized by India's Prince of Mysore, Hyder Ali, it consisted
of 1200 men. They used rockets weighing from six to 12 pounds. Each rocket consisted
of a round tube eight inches long and one and a half inches in diameter, packed
tightly with powder and guided by long bamboo poles. Range was up to one and a half
miles. These missiles were used against the British and inspired British rocket
development.
A few years later, when Napoleon prepared to invade England, the British used
the William Congreve rocket against his concentrations at Boulogne. They fired 2,000
rockets from the Channel into the city, starting numerous fires and completely halting
the invader.
After 1807, when the British, using 25,000 rockets, attacked Copenhagen from
the sea and almost completely destroyed the city, rockets were used often and successfully.
The British used them against the French fleet at Caltars and Bayonne. The city
of Danzig was almost completely destroyed in 1813 when the French bombarded the
city with rockets. In the decisive battle of Leipzig a considerable number was used
by the Germans.
During the War of 1812, the British landed 4,500 men on Chesapeake Bay. Using
the William Congreve rocket they caused two American regiments to flee in panic.
The British captured Washington and moved on toward Baltimore where they attacked
Fort McHenry. The rockets were unsuccessful but resulted in inspiring Francis Scott
Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner" with the lines. "The rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air." These rockets had a 2,000-yard range and weighed 32
pounds.
The first U. S. rocket battery was organized at Fort Monroe in 1846, using Hale's
tailless rocket. It was designed to rotate by means of three stabilizers in the
base. Later Congress authorized ten additional regiments to be equipped with rockets
and mountain howitzers. By June, 1847, two thousand rockets had been manufactured
and stored in a Washington arsenal. Some of these rockets were used in the Mexican
War at the Vera Cruz landing with some success.
The first guided missile was conceived during the Civil War, when the South worked
on a torpedo that was unsuccessful. It moved too slowly and allowed ships time to
maneuver out of its path.
The torpedo was perfected during the first World War, which also saw development
of a pilotless plane flying a pre-set course, which was to be loaded. with explosives.
It was never used operationally. The Germans used rockets attached to large anchors
to pull up barbed wire entanglements. The Russians and French fired rockets by mounting
them upright in planes and then flying beneath observation balloons and igniting
them.
At the beginning Of the 20th century, the leading authority on rockets was Dr.
Robert H. Goddard of Clark University in the United States. He experimented with
powder rockets and within five years he reached the conclusion that powder rockets
were not adaptable for high altitude rocket work. In 1920 he turned to liquid fuels
and after five more years of experimentation fired the first successful liquid fuel
rocket. Goddard worked out the mathematics for computing thrust and the idea of
using step rockets. His text book became the bible of the German rocket scientists.
In 1928 Fritz Von Opel, the German Henry Ford, was experimenting with rocket-propelled
automobiles. At a public demonstration his Opel I, propelled by a series of 12 rockets
attained a speed of 70 miles per hour. At a later display the Opel II reached a
speed of 100 miles per hour, propelled by 44 rockets. The Opel III, set up on a
stretch of railroad track reached a speed of 180 miles per hour. In 1929, a German,
Herr Valier, perfected an ice sled which was rocket-propelled and which reached
the amazing speed of 250 miles per hour.
At Dessau, in 1929, the Junkers Company developed the jet-assisted take-off but
kept the results secret. The jet-assisted take-off was used by heavily loaded planes
for the mass air raids on London.
The Germans worked out theoretical studies to set up stations in space which
would constantly move about the earth at an altitude of about 400 miles. These space
stations were to control the world and act as stations for directing guided missiles.
Since the modern rocket carries its own oxygen it has no ceiling. It can as easily
travel in the stratosphere as the atmosphere. Recent developments in the field of
reaction motors, aerodynamics and remote control of aerial vehicles makes possible
entirely new weapons capable of attaining high velocities, great altitudes, long
ranges of operation and extreme accuracy.
During the last war landing barges fitted out with 150 banks of rockets were
equivalent in fire power to 30 battalions of field artillery. They were a faint
whisper of what could come with rocket warfare.
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