Engines are primarily used to produce one of the forces called thrust. There are two major types of engines, Reciprocating engines, and Gas Turbine engines commonly known as "Jets". These two types of engines have advantages and disadvantages. Those will be discussed later on... Reciprocating engines are basically piston engines. The inspiration of using piston engines on aircraft came from automobiles. The Wright Brothers used what was basically a modified automobile engine used on their first aircraft. It was a 4 cylinder gasoline engine that weighed a mere 180 pounds. It generated about 13 horse power. Piston engines were the first type of engines used widely in the early years of aviation. World War I and World War II greatly help improve engine technology. Because of the war many automobile manufactures like Rolls-Royce, Mercedes and Hispano- Suiza started producing aircraft engines of horsepower. By the end of WWII monstrous 28 Cylinders engines had and the ability to produce 3500 horse power.
Towards the end of WWII the new jet era was just beginning. The Germans introduced the Messerschmitt 262 thundered into combat at 540 miles per hour. This aircraft went 70 miles per hour faster then its propeller-driven opponent. The introduction of this plane was too late in the war to help the Germans win. However this aircraft brought jet technology to the modern age.
The actions of a jet engines are as follows. Air surrounding the engine enters, it is compressed, mixed with Fuel, and ignited. When the fuel burns it expands and exits through the rear. This can be illustrated by the actions of a balloon.
The jet engine works on the principal of Action Reaction theory devised by Isaac Newton. It was set as a basic law of physics in the 17th Century. It States "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"
Jet technology improved the power and performance of an aircraft that used them. But in the early days it was at the cost of fuel. The early jet engines were not very fuel efficient. But later models improved in fuel efficiency greatly.
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