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Early days: Whittle with his original jet engine, which he later rebuilt
On 21 June 1945, Sir Frank Whittle made the first public presentation of the jet engine in the lecture theatre at the Institutional of Mechanical Engineers. His achievement helped to change the world, but getting there involved a long, hard road.
Whittle was a 21-year-old cadet at RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire – where he started in 1926 – when he wrote his thesis “Future developments in aircraft design”. In it, he envisaged speeds of more than 500mph (800km/h) in the stratosphere, at a time when the maximum speed of RAF fighters was 150mph.
His professor apparently admitted he did not understand a lot of Whittle’s thesis, but nevertheless gave him a 30 out of 30 mark, and his instructors declared him a mathematical genius. He was also to become an accomplished pilot.
Whittle concluded that the piston engines then in use would not be able to fly the faster speeds and longer distances that he desired; to achieve this, planes would also need to fly at higher altitudes.
During his early career, he continued to work on his ideas for a high-altitude, high-speed aeroplane. He first considered using a gas turbine to provide jet propulsion while training as a flight instructor at the Central Flying School.
With support from his commandant, he brought his ideas to the attention of the Air Ministry. A meeting was arranged with a gas turbine expert, but this expert was unimpressed. And in 1929, Whittle’s idea was described as impracticable by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.
Despite these setbacks, Whittle filed a patent on 16 January 1930. The government could have exercised its right to keep the invention a secret. However, it failed to do so, and, after the Second World War, copies of the patent were found in laboratories across Germany.
Whittle completed the officers’ engineering course at Henlow in Bedfordshire, and in 1934 the RAF sent him to Cambridge University to study mechanical sciences. When interviewed for the film Whittle: The Jet Pioneer, he said: “I had to work like hell because I was designing the jet engine and preparing for my finals at the same time.”
At this time, some of his former colleagues interested the engineering firm General Enterprises in Whittle’s idea. A new patent was obtained – the first having lapsed – and a firm of investment bankers, OT Falk and Partners, provided funding. The Power Jets company was formed in January 1936 and Whittle was permitted to act as honorary chief engineer, although on a part-time basis.
An engine was built by the British Thomson-Houston company, and was ready for its first test run on 12 April 1937. Although it ran, Whittle was not satisfied, and, after attempting modifications, decided that a complete rebuild was necessary. After some difficulties, funding was eventually obtained. Whittle was posted to the Special Duty List, meaning that work on the engine was now his official full-time employment.
In the summer of 1939, an Air Ministry contract was signed for a flight engine and an experimental aircraft – the Gloster/Whittle E28-39, Britain’s first jet. Its maiden flight was on 15 May 1941, and it was aptly named The Pioneer.
A jet fighter aircraft entered service in 1944. Such was the impact of the invention that Winston Churchill said “Get me a thousand Whittles”.
Whittle had invented the first viable jet engine and, with it, the Jet Age.
Did you know?
Whittle considered a fan enclosed in the fuselage to generate a fast flow of air. A piston engine would use too much fuel, so he thought of using a gas turbine.
The fuselage arrangement (above) of the experimental aeroplane Gloster/Whittle E28-39 – Britain’s first jet.