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| Na eshopu: | ANO |
|---|---|
| Product: | Plastic kits |
| Edition: | Special Hobby |
| Type: | Aircraft |
| Era: | Word War II |
| Scale: | 1/72 |
| Origin: | german |
| Weight: | 0.151 kg |
The Heinkel He 178V-1 was the world's first jet aircraft. In 1936, Ernst Heinkel employed Dr. Hans J. Pabst von Ohain and his assistant Max Hahn in his factory. They worked on a fundamentally new aircraft propulsion system, the jet engine.
In September 1937, the first prototype jet engine, the HeS 1, was tested on a test bench. Although the engine ran on hydrogen and had no thrust control, it was capable of developing a thrust of up to 250 kg. After the success of the HeS 1 engine, von Ohain began work on the much more powerful HeS 3b engine, which burned gasoline as fuel and was equipped with control flaps for power control. Work also began at the same time on the design of the airframe, which was originally designed to install a single jet engine.
The He 178 V1 was a high-wing aircraft with the pilot's cockpit located in the forward section of the fuselage in front of the wing leading edge. It had a metal, monocoque fuselage riveted with countersunk rivets, wooden wings and retractable landing gear. However, all test flights were conducted with the landing gear extended and the landing gear bays covered. Taxiing tests of the prototype equipped with the HeS 3b engine began on 24 August 1939 and on 27 August the aircraft made its first flight at Marienehe airfield. These were the flights of the first jet aircraft in the world. During the ongoing tests, the aircraft was demonstrated to the RLM top brass on 1 November. The He 178 V1 aircraft made a total of 12 flights, always piloted by Captain Erich Warsitz.
Later, the machine received a more powerful HeS 6 engine, a longer wing and retractable landing gear. This variant was designated He 178 V-2. (The kit for this version can be found under cat. no. SH72192) The aircraft was later placed in the Aviation Museum in Berlin, where it was destroyed together with the He 176 during one of the Allied air raids in 1943.
The kit contains one sprue of plastic parts, complete with a clear injection-molded cockpit hood and a fret of etches.
