The development of the afterburner soon allowed jet engines to provide similar levels of thrust and longer range, while needing no oxidant and being safer to handle.
The Comet suffered from a new and unexpected problem now known as metal fatigue, several examples crashed and by the time a new version was introduced, American types such as the Boeing 707 had overtaken its design and it was not a commercial success.
The associated pollution and sonic boom from these aircraft also raised awareness of the Environmental impact of aviation, making it difficult to find countries prepared to tolerate them.
Many other advances took place during this period, such as the introduction of the helicopter, development of the fabric Rogallo wing for sport flying and the reintroduction of the canard or "tail-first" configuration by the Swedish Saab Viggen jet fighter.
Designers already knew that as an aircraft approaches the speed of sound (Mach 1), in the transonic region, shock waves begin forming, causing a large increase in drag.
But this made the wing structure longer and more flexible, making the aircraft more likely to suffer from bending or aeroelasticity and even causing a reversal in the action of the flight controls.
As speed increases and becomes fully supersonic, the wing centre of lift moves backwards, causing a change in longitudinal trim and a pitching-down tendency known as Mach tuck.
Mach tuck was reduced through the use of long "chine" extensions of the wing along the fuselage, which contributed greater lift at supersonic speeds.
The propeller powered by a piston engine, in radial or inline form, still dominated aviation at the close of World War Two, and its simplicity and low cost mean it is still in use today for less demanding applications.
In the event the development of the afterburner allowed jet engines to provide similar levels of thrust and rocket power became confined to missiles.
At lower speeds and altitudes this design is more efficient and economical than the jet turbine, while having greater power for less weight than a piston engine.
New radio location systems provided navigation information which could be used to control an autopilot pre-set to fly a specific course rather than to simply maintain the present altitude and heading.
The Head-Up Display (HUD) was developed from the wartime reflector gunsight to provide key flight information to the pilot without needing to lower the eyes to the instrument panel.
The increasing capability - and vulnerability - of avionics led to the development of airborne Early Warning (EW) and Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) systems.
Many approaches were experimented with in the post-war period, in the attempt to combine the high speed of the conventional aeroplane with the VTOL convenience of the helicopter.
Helicopters entered widespread use in many diverse roles including air observation, search and rescue, medical evacuation, fire fighting, construction and general transport to otherwise inaccessible locations such as mountain sides and oil rigs.
Tail-sitters were otherwise conventional aeroplanes which sat pointing vertically up while on the ground and, after takeoff, tilted the whole aircraft horizontal to fly forwards.
The success of the P.1127 and its successor the Kestrel led directly to the service introduction of the subsonic Hawker Siddeley Harrier "Jump jet" in 1969.
One hundred and fourteen of all versions were built but the Comet 1 had serious design problems, and out of nine original aircraft, four crashed (one at takeoff and three broke up in flight), which grounded the entire fleet.
The use of mass-production techniques similar to those of the motor industry lowered the cost of private aircraft, with types such as the Cessna 172 and Beechcraft Bonanza seeing widespread use, the 172 eclipsing even wartime production levels.
The introduction of the Concorde supersonic transport (SST) airliner to regular service in 1976 was expected to bring similar social changes, but the aircraft never found commercial success.
McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing were three U.S. manufacturers that had originally planned to develop various SST designs since the 1960s, but these projects were eventually abandoned for various developmental, cost, and other practical reasons.
Jets such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 and North American F-86 Sabre soon introduced swept wings to reduce drag at transonic speeds, and saw combat in the Korean War.
The increasing availability of nuclear weapons led to the introduction of nuclear-armed long-range strategic bombers such as the American Boeing B-52 and the British V-bombers.
It offered a high fineness ratio with good structural strength for low weight, and the Dassault Mirage III and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 series of delta-winged fighters were used in large numbers.
Other development around this time included the swing-wing General Dynamics F-111 and the British VTOL Hawker Harrier, although these technologies were not widely deployed.
The "canard" foreplane was found to help direct airflow over the wing, allowing flight at high angles of attack and slow speeds without stalling.
The speed and height of jet aircraft, along with the short duration of any combat engagement, led to the widespread introduction of missiles for both offence and defence.
Guidance systems improved or introduced after the war included radio command, TV, inertial, astro navigation, various radar modes and, for some short-range missiles, control wires.
Radar systems became commonplace, with Air traffic control facilities needed to manage the large number of aircraft in the sky at any one time.