List of jet aircraft of World War II

The first successful jet aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, flew only five days before the war started on 1 September 1939.

[1] By the end of the conflict on 2 September 1945[2] Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States all had operational turbojet-powered fighter aircraft while Japan had produced, but not used, motorjet-powered kamikaze aircraft, and had tested and ordered into production conventional jets.

Italy and the Soviet Union had both tested motorjet aircraft which had turbines powered by piston engines and the latter had also equipped several types of conventional piston-powered fighter aircraft with auxiliary ramjet engines for testing purposes.

Germany was the only country to use jet-powered bombers operationally during the war.

[3] This list includes only aircraft powered by turbine engines, either on their own or as part of mixed-power arrangements.

Right side view of aMesserschmitt 262 jet fighter captured by the United States Army Air Forces on the ground.
A captured Messerschmitt Me 262, the most numerous jet fighter of World War II