Jet history

The town of Jet was incorporated in 1900 from part of Saline Township.

By January 11, 1906, according to the Jet Visitor, "the moving of business houses to the new town [was] now in full blast." New brick buildings rapidly appeared, and about one hundred others had been moved from the old site or built in the new one by the middle of February.

In Great Britain, a Royal Air Force officer, Frank Whittle, invented the gas-turbine engine that would power the first British jet, the Gloster E.28/39, which made its first flight on May 15, 1941.

Britain and the United States also introduced jet fighters, with the British Gloster Meteor making its first flight on March 5, 1943.

De Havilland began design studies that led to the first flight of the D.H. 106 Comet jet airliner on July 27, 1949.

Jet engines developed rapidly and by 1950 had reached levels of power that were impossible with piston engines.

First flown on May 27, 1955, the Caravelle achieved sales of 282 aircraft, and a turbofan-powered variant was used for domestic routes by airlines in the United States—a marketing coup at the time.

The first to appear included the Lockheed JetStar of 1957, which was soon followed by the North American Sabreliner.

Douglas was acquired by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in 1967, forming McDonnell Douglas Corporation, and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was created to meet an estimated market requirement for about 750 wide-bodied aircraft.

Established in December 1970 to build the Airbus A300 wide-bodied twin, the company was discounted at first as having little chance to compete.