Hi Larry

I was aware of Whittle's engine. I used the ME 262 because it illustrated my point. Germany used its resources to drive the technology forward to satisfy military needs.
As an aside, it interesting to me that the jet engine was a logical extension of the turbo charger. They both use exhaust gases to power the intake. (Boost in the case of the turbo)

A couple more examples came to mind.
Nuclear power, GPS and wasn't the defense department involved in the creation of the Internet?

I just finished watching "High tech Weapons" on the History channel. It looks like military needs will continue to push advances in tech as long as we have a need to defend ourselves.

On the other hand, I’m still thinking about Tom’s post.

"It is entirely possible that had the major wars not occurred (for whatever reason), we would actually be much further ahead in many areas of technology, although maybe not all the same ones. And this doesn't even count progress in art and the humanities."

Regards,

Rob