Jumo 004 B

It served to power the Messerschmitt Me 262, the irst jet-propelled military airplane.  The development of the 004 engine was directed by Anselm Franz in Dessau from 1939 onwards. Serien-production of the Jumo 004 A engine, designed for test purposes, started in summer 1942.  About 2,400 Jumo 004 B engines were produced in 1944 and 45 in the underground “Mittelwerk”. 

In early 1944 it was decided to house large parts of the German aircraft industry in bomb-proof underground tunnels. The tunnel system known as the “Mittelwerk” (middle works) in the Kohnstein massif near Nordhausen/Harz, in which the production of the V 2 rocket had just begun with the aid of prisoner-laborers, was divided. In May of 1944 parts of the Junkers Corp. were moved into the northern tunnels. The serial production of the Jumo 004 B jet engine started there at the end of September, 1944.

At least 20,000 prisoners died as a result of the Mittelwerk project from inhumane living and working conditions, illnesses and abuse.

• 8-stage axial-flow compressor, single stage turbine, 6 combustion chambers
• Manufacturer: Junkers-Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG, Dessau 1944
• Thrust: 8.9 kN
• Number of revolutions: 8700 rpm
• Fuel consumption: 1273 kg/h
• Specific consumption: 143 kg/kNh
• Air flow: 21,2 kg/s
• Compression ratio: 3.1