Turbojet

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The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine (that drives the compressor). The compressed air from the compressor is heated by burning fuel in the combustion chamber and then allowed to expand through the turbine. The turbine exhaust is then expanded in the propelling nozzle where it is accelerated to high speed to provide thrust.^[1] Two engineers, Frank Whittle in the United Kingdom and Hans von Ohain in Germany, developed the concept independently into practical engines during the late 1930s.

Turbojets have poor efficiency at low vehicle speeds, which limits their usefulness in vehicles other than aircraft. Turbojet engines have been used in isolated cases to power vehicles other than aircraft, typically for attempts on land speed records. Where vehicles are "turbine-powered", this is more commonly by use of a turboshaft engine, a development of the gas turbine engine where an additional turbine is used to drive a rotating output shaft. These are common in helicopters and hovercraft.

Turbojets were used on Concorde and the longer-range versions of the Tu-144 which were required to spend a long period travelling supersonically. Turbojets are common in medium range cruise missiles, due to their high exhaust speed, small frontal area, and relative simplicity. They are used on some supersonic fighters such as the MiG-25, but most fighters spend little time travelling supersonically, and so employ turbofans and use afterburners to raise exhaust speed for bursts of supersonic travel.