- Secondo Campini
Secondo Campini (
August 28 1904 -February 7 1980 ) was an Italian engineer and one of the pioneers of thejet engine .Campini was born at
Bologna ,Emilia-Romagna . In 1931 he wrote a proposal for the Italian Air Ministry on the value of jet propulsion and in 1932 demonstrated a jet-powered boat inVenice . With support of the Air Ministry, he began work with Italian aircraft manufacturerCaproni to develop a jet plane, theCampini Caproni CC.2 , which first flew in 1940.The "
Thermojet " that Campini developed to propel this aircraft is substantially different from the jet engines of today. Campini's engine used an ordinary piston engine to compress air which was then mixed with fuel and ignited. Modern jets are based on theturbojet principle, but Campini's jet was nevertheless a true jet, since it was the reactive force of the burning exhaust gases that pushed the plane along.After
World War II , Campini emigrated to the US. Beginning in 1948, he worked on a number of military projects including theYB-49 flying-wingbomber .He died in Milan in 1980.
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