"To
some people, there is no noise on earth as exciting as
the sound of three or four big fan-jet engines rising
in pitch, as the plane they are sitting in swivels at
the end of the runway and, straining against its
brakes, prepares for takeoff. The very danger in the
situation is inseparable from the exhilaration it
yields. You are strapped into your seat now, there is
no way back, you have delivered yourself into the
power of modern technology. You might as well lie back
and enjoy it" -David Lodge,
Small World
The first aircraft to successfully fly using a Gas-Turbine
engine (jet engine) was the German Heinkel He 178 in August
1939