Making Jet Engines in World War II
Britain, Germany, and the United States
Our stories of industrial innovation tend to focus on individual initiative and breakthroughs. With "Making Jet Engines in World War II", Hermione Giffard uses the case of the development of jet engines to offer a different way of understanding technological innovation, revealing the complicated mix of factors that go into any decision to pursue an innovative, and therefore risky technology. Giffard compares the approaches of Britain, Germany, and the United States. Each approached jet engines in different ways because of its own war aims and industrial expertise. Germany, which produced more jet engines than the others, did so largely as replacements for more expensive piston engines. Britain, on the other hand, produced relatively few engines – but, by shifting emphasis to design rather than production, found itself at war's end holding an unrivaled range of designs. The US emphasis on development, meanwhile, built an institutional basis for postwar production. Taken together, Giffard's work makes a powerful case for a more nuanced understanding of technological innovation, one that takes into account the influence of the many organizational factors that play a part in the journey from idea to finished product.
About the Author
Hermione Giffard is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University.
Reviews
"There are many myths surrounding the development of the jet engine in the Second World War. With 'Making Jet Engines in World War II', Giffard produces the best analysis to date of this complex issue. In the process of providing a fine, detailed analysis of the German, British, and American experience, she clears away the myths and leaves us with a clear understanding of the real history" – Richard Overy, University of Exete
"Giffard has produced a bold and novel analysis that contributes to the deepening debate over the models used to explain the relation between science and technology. 'Making Jet Engines in World War II' is written in a straightforward, thought-provoking, and economical manner, and it is gratifyingly free of theoretical and methodological pretension. A perceptive, well-researched book, it will be an essential resource for teachers and researchers in the field of science and technology studies" – David Bloor, University of Edinburgh
"'Making Jet Engines in World War II' is a tremendously valuable contribution to the history of technology. Giffard delivers a brilliantly comparative three-nation history, showing a level of attention to national context that is essential for comparative studies, but rarely achieved. The book is grounded in truly impressive research, involving archival collections in three countries and vast troves of published technical literature. Sure to appeal to serious aviation history enthusiasts, aeronautical engineers, historians of technology, and scholars of innovation, Giffard's argument is well-written and sharply original, and it represents a major revision to the history of the turbojet and an important contribution to the historiography of invention" – Eric Schatzberg, University of Wisconsin, Madison
