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Why Did It Take So Long to Invent X?
- simonblack 7y agoUsually it's economics and/or need. The first jet engines were invented in the late 20s to early 30s, almost simultaneously in Britain and Germany. But it was easier, and cheaper, to continue building propellor-driven planes until the extreme pressures of WW2 nearly 20 years later pushed people into a change-over from ICE+propellor to the more expensive jet.
- jasoncrawford 7y agoThanks Simon, any good articles on this point about jet engines? I'm collecting analyses of specific inventions.
- simonblack 7y agoThis one tells about how the Germans and British were almost simultaneously inventing the jet: https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-jet-engine-4067905 https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-jet-engine-4067905 This one tells of Whittle's difficulties in Air Force resistance, also the new jets were extremely costly and required whole new areas of metallurgy and turbine design: https://frankwhittle.co.uk/challenges/ https://frankwhittle.co.uk/challenges/