By Mike Verier
It is a sad fact that war accelerates the development of technology as the combatants strive to gain superiority. Thus it was that aviation grew from novelty to essential tool in World War I and from biplanes to ballistic missiles in World War II.
With propeller driven development approaching its limits, designers sought alternative ways to provide their aircraft with greater speed. Reaction power in the form of rockets had been around since the ancient Chinese and continued to be developed, though it was difficult to control and hazardous to its operators. The gas turbine, the jet, was seen as a more reliable way to dispense with the propeller and the Germans threw vast scientific resources at developing almost any advanced projects that their engineers came up with if they had the slightest potential to turn the Allied tide.