Show Notes
In October 1910, the city of Paris played host to a historic event: the Second International Aeronautical Exhibition, a grand showcase of the very latest in aviation technology. To the average visitor, the rickety canvas-and-wire flying machines lining the halls of the Grand Palais [“Grahn Pal-ay”] would have seemed exotic and cutting-edge. But one exhibit stood out among the rest. Set aside in a separate exhibition hall, the brick-red aircraft was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. Its sleek wings lacked the drag-producing bracing wires that festooned most contemporary aircraft, while its tail featured unique x-shaped stabilizers. But strangest of all, the odd contraption lacked a seemingly vital component: a propeller. Instead, the aircraft was propelled by an unusual barrel-shaped device mounted to its nose which its creator, Romanian-born Henri Coanda, dubbed a “turbo-propulsor” - the ancestor of the modern jet engine. Later in life, Coanda would claim that his creation was the first jet-powered aircraft to take to the air - a title traditionally claimed by the German-built Heinkel He-178 on August 27, 1939. But is this true? Did the first jet aircraft actually fly all the way back in 1910, barely seven years after the Wright Brothers’ pioneering flight? The answer is a lot more complicated than you might think, and depends a great deal on how you define the term “jet aircraft.” This is the controversial story of the Coanda 1910, a forgotten aircraft decades ahead of its time.
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