Jet engine in which all the intake air passes through the compressor, combustor and turbine before leaving the nozzle as a high-speed jet.
What it is
The turbojet is the simplest form of gas turbine engine. Air enters, the compressor squeezes it, fuel is added and burnt in the combustor, and the hot gases spin the turbine, which in turn drives the compressor. The remaining energy leaves through the nozzle as a very fast jet, and the reaction to that jet pushes the aircraft forward.
It powered the first generation of jet airliners, such as the de Havilland Comet, the original Sud Aviation Caravelle and the early Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. Its drawback is that it accelerates a relatively small amount of air to a very high speed, which makes it noisy and thirsty at the speeds airliners fly.
From the 1960s the turbofan took its place. Concorde was the notable exception: to cruise at Mach 2 it used Olympus turbojets built by Rolls-Royce and Snecma, with reheat for take-off and transonic acceleration.
On Vuelopedia
An aircraft record shows its type of propulsion and the model and number of its engines.
Related terms
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Turbojet. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/turbojet
MLA
“Turbojet.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/turbojet. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Turbojet.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/turbojet.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Turbojet. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/turbojet (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_turbojet,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Turbojet}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/turbojet},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/turbojet}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/turbojet |title=Turbojet |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}