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This modern turbojet engine is based on the prototype that Frank Whittle invented.

Frank Whittle was an English aviation inventor, engineer, and pilot who invented the jet engine. His engine was the prototype of turbojets used in many modern British and American aircraft.

Born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England in 1907, Frank Whittle entered the Royal Air Force (RAF) College in Cranwell in 1926 as a flight cadet and soon qualified as a pilot. He was posted to a fighter squadron in 1928 and served as a test pilot in 1931-32. Early in his career, Whittle became interested in jet propulsion for aircraft, and he proposed his idea first in 1928 in his senior thesis. But his ideas were ridiculed and neither the government nor private industry supported him. Whittle obtained his first patent for a turbojet in 1930.

He pursued further studies at the RAF engineering school and at the University of Cambridge during 1934-1937. In 1936 he and a group of associates organized a company called Power Jets, Ltd., to develop his engine.

Whittle ground-tested his first jet engine in 1937-the date generally given for the invention of the jet engine-although the first operational jet engine was designed in Germany by Hans Pabst von Ohain. Von Ohain's engine powered the first jet-aircraft flight on August 27, 1939. The first flight in an aircraft using Whittle's engine took place on May 15, 1941, in a British experimental fighter plane-a specially built Gloster E.28/39. By this time, the British government had begun to support Whittle's efforts, and it took over Power Jets, Ltd. in 1944. Britain's Gloster Meteor jet aircraft with the Whittle engine were used in the war against Germany's jet-powered Messerschmitt Me 262s.

Whittle retired from the RAF in 1948 with the rank of air commodore and was knighted that same year. He received the Churchill Gold Medal of the Society of Engineers in 1952 and was awarded the Order of Merit in 1986. In 1977 he joined the faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, as a research professor. His book Jet: The Story of a Pioneer was published in 1953. He died in 1996.

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The British shared Whittle's technology with the United States, enabling the engine-builder General Electric (GE) to build jet engines for America's first jet fighter, the Bell XP-59. The aircraft company Lockheed then used a British engine in the initial version of its Lockheed P-80, America's first operational jet fighter, which entered service soon after the war's end. The British continued to develop new jet engines that used Whittle's designs, with Rolls-Royce initiating work on the Nene engine during 1944. Rolls sold Nenes to the Soviets, and a Soviet-built version of the engine subsequently powered the MiG-15 jet fighter that fought U.S. fighters and bombers during the Korean War.

 

 

Sir Frank Whittle

June 1, 1907 - August 9, 1996

 

Sir Frank Whittle

Frank Whittle was born on the first of June 1907 in Earlsdon, Coventry. He would go on to become one of Britain's most famous inventors but the path to success was long and difficult.

His family moved away from Coventry when he was nine years old. Frank's father who was a skilled mechanic raised enough money to buy the Leamington Valve and Piston Ring Company. Frank was educated at Milverton primary school and later at the Leamington College for boys.

Young Frank was always interested in aircraft and was keen to join the RAF. He applied to join the RAF as an engineering apprentice and passed the written examinations but was rejected because he was not tall enough. One of the physical training instructors took pity on Frank and gave him a list of exercises to perform in an effort to gain height. Within six months Frank had gained three inches in height. He resubmitted his application but it was turned down again.

Feeling that the RAF were never going to accept him because of his initial failure to pass the medical examination, he made a fresh application to join the RAF but this time he did not declare his previous failed applications. This approach worked and Frank Whittle achieved his ambition to join the RAF.

Frank Whittle trained at RAF Cranwell as a fitter/rigger for three years and because he did so well, he was offered the chance of an officer cadetship and the chance to fly. While having previously experienced disappointment as the result of a failed medical examination, on this occasion he was to benefit from someone else's misfortune. The top five cadets from each course were given the chance to undergo flying training as officer cadets. Whittle finished just outside this at number six but the apprentice who finished top of the course, failed his flying medical so Whittle found himself selected for flying duties by the skin of his teeth.

Whittle remained at Cranwell for his flying training and in 1927 went solo in an Avro 504K biplane. During his stay at Cranwell, Whittle shared a room with fellow trainee, Rolf Dudley Williams and it was Williams who was to play an important part in Whittle's life and the development of the jet engine.

After Whittle completed his training, he was posted to 111 Sqn at RAF Hornchurch, flying Armstrong Whitworth Siskins. In 1929 Whittle was sent to the Central Flying School (CFS) at RAF Wittering to partake in a flying instructors course. It was while at Wittering that Whittle's ideas for a new type of aircraft engine took shape.

With the assistance of Flying Officer Johnny Johnson he was able to put his ideas about jet propulsion to Air Ministry scientists. The scientific world was not yet ready for Whittle's futuristic ideas and dismissed them as 'unworkable'.

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Whittle at the controls of the worlds first jet engine

Following the successful completion of his course at Wittering, he was posted to RAF Digby and promoted to Flying Officer. It was while at Digby that Whittle got married to his first wife Dorothy on 24th May 1930.

At the end of the year, Whittle was posted to the marine aircraft experimental unit at Felixstowe. While at Felixstowe Whittle again tried to gain support for his ideas among the established aeronautical engineering community, without any success. He did however meet up again with Rolf Dudley Williams, who he had shared a room with at Cranwell. Williams had faith in Whittle's ideas and tried unsuccessfully to raise money to patent Whittle's ideas.

After his tour at Felixstowe, Whittle was posted to RAF Henlow in August 1932 to complete an officers engineering course. Whittle performed well on his engineering course and completed it twelve months ahead of schedule. Because of this, the Air Ministry allowed him to study for a mechanical science degree at Cambridge.

So in July 1934 Whittle entered Peterhouse College to take his mechanical science tripos. The completion of his engineering course at Henlow meant that Whittle was able to skip the first year of the three year degree course. He also continued with his designs for a jet engine.

In March 1935, while still at Cambridge, Whittle received a letter which was to give his jet engine project a boost. The letter was from Rolf Dudley Williams, whom Whittle had known at Cranwell and Felixstowe. Williams had retired from the RAF and was working for a company which manufactured cigarette machinery. Williams was working in partnership with another ex-RAF officer called Collingwood Tinling and Tinling was interested when Williams told him about Whittle and his ideas.

Williams and Tinling agreed to pay for the renewal of Whittle's patents and to arrange funding for development work. In return they would each receive 25% of any commercial profit. Funding was obtained from a firm of investment bankers and on 27th of January 1936, an agreement was reached which resulted in the incorporation of the Power Jets company.

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The W.1 turbojet engine used to power the Gloster E28/39 aircraft. It was designed to produce a static thrust of 1,240 lbs at 17,750 rpm. This engine was also the basis of the design of the General Electric I-14 turbojet engine used to power the Bell XP-59A twin engine experimental fighter.

A contract was placed with the Rugby firm, British Thomson Houston (BTH) for the manufacture of the prototype engine. Whittle's relationship with BTH was difficult and acrimonious at times. Whittle was the young upstart engineer with fresh ideas and BTH were an established engineering concern with a lot of experience in the field of steam turbines. When Whittle challenged some of BTH's long held design principals, it caused resentment, particularly as Whittle was usually right.

Despite these problems, the first engine was test run on 12th April 1937. In December of that year, Whittle was promoted to Squadron Leader. Because of his work on the jet engine, he was not made to sit the customary promotion exam. This act was an indication of the high regard in which he was held by the RAF. Unfortunately this level of support was not always forthcoming from the Air Ministry and his efforts to give Britain a vital technological advantage, which could have shortened the duration of world war two, were not always appreciated.

While testing continued on the original W.U. prototype engine, Whittle's company received further contracts for flight engines. Afterwards, the Gloster aircraft company were awarded a contract to build an aircraft to house the new engine. This was known as the Gloster E28/39. By April 1941 the W1.x engine fitted to the E28/39 for taxi trials . In May the W1 flight engine was installed and the aircraft was transported by road to RAF Cranwell . On the 15th of May 1941, the Gloster E28/39 made its maiden flight piloted by Gloster test pilot, Gerry Sayer.

After the success of the E28/39, the Air Ministry started to take Whittle's engine seriously. Regrettably, it was never to take Whittle himself seriously enough to allow him to remain in control of his own invention. Some of the established aero-engine companies had been worried at the way Whittle's engine threatened their own commercial interests and had lobbied the government into handing over the project to them. Whittle was a serving RAF officer and was in no position to defend his company and his brainchild.

Rover were subcontracted to produce the W2B engine for the Meteor aircraft but they took advantage of Whittle's position to make unauthorized alterations to the engine and even worse, they made unauthorized copies of the original design drawings and removed any references to Power Jets. Rover actually wanted to produce their own version of the W2B in direct competition against Power Jets. When Whittle found out about this deceit he was furious and the relationship between Power Jets and Rover was irretrievably soured.

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The Gloster E28/39 over Edgehill, Warwickshire

Eventually, Rover sold their jet engine interests to Rolls Royce in that famous pub lunch with Hives and Hooker (see Rolls Royce story). Rolls Royce were more appreciative of Whittle's skills and had previously offered him assistance with some component production.

In April 1944, Power Jets were nationalized and in January 1946, Whittle resigned from the company he created. Frank Whittle had struggled with ill health over the previous ten years, due in some part to the tremendous pressure of his work. In April 1948, Frank Whittle retired from the RAF on health grounds with the rank of Air Commodore.

After his retirement Whittle finally received the recognition he so richly deserved. As a serving officer, Whittle had received no payment for his invention and was only in receipt of his RAF salary. In May 1948 Whittle was awarded the sum of £100,000 by the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventions. Two months later in July 1948, Frank Whittle was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) and received his Knighthood from King George VI.

In the post war years Whittle was in popular demand as a technical advisor with several major companies such as B.O.A.C. Shell, Bristol Siddeley Engines and Rolls Royce. He also emarked on a series of lecture tours which took him around the globe. In 1976 he moved to the USA and married for the second time to Hazel Hall.

After a long battle fighting cancer, Sir Frank Whittle died on 8th August 1996 at his home in Maryland, USA.

-o0o-

 

"Scientific investigation into the possibilities (of jet propulsion) has given no indication that this method can be a serious competitor to the airscrew-engine combination".

BRITISH UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AIR (1934)

 

"It is one thing to have an idea. It is another to have the technical and executive ability to give it flesh. It is another to have the tenacity of purpose to drive through to success unshaken in confidence, in the face of discouraging opposition. Whittle, whose name in the annals of engineering comes after those of Watt, Stephenson and Parsons only for reasons of chronology or alphabetical order, had these things".

LORD KINGS NORTON (1947)

 

 

 

Hans Von Ohain

The Converging Paths Of Whittle And von Ohain

 

 

Frank Whittle

Frank Whittle
Born	1 June 1907(1907-06-01) Earlsdon, Coventry, England.
Died	9 August 1996 (aged 89) Columbia, Maryland. United States
Cause of death	Lung cancer
Burial place	Cranwell, England
Nationality	English
Education	Peterhouse, University of Cambridge
Employer	Royal Air Force
Occupation	RAF officer
Title	Sir
Known for	Development of the jet engine
Spouse	Dorothy Lee (1930-1976) Hazel Hall
Children	2 sons

Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907–9 August 1996) was an English Royal Air Force officer. Sharing credit with Germany's Dr. Hans von Ohain for independently inventing the jet engine, he is hailed as a father of jet propulsion.^[1] By the end of the war, Whittle's efforts resulted in engines that would lead the world in performance through the end of the decade.

 

His Early Life

Whittle was born in a terraced house in Earlsdon, Coventry, England, United Kingdom on 1 June 1907, the son of a mechanic.^[1] When Whittle was nine years old, the family moved to the nearby town of Royal Leamington Spa, where his father started an engineering factory.^[1] He left Leamington College in 1923 to join the RAF. Through his early days as an Aircraft apprentice (first at RAF Cranwell but latterly at RAF Halton) he maintained his interest in the Model Aircraft Society where he built replicas, the quality of which attracted the eye of his commanding officer, who also felt that Whittle was a mathematical genius.

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Whittle's birthplace in Earlsdon, Coventry, England.

He was so impressed that he recommended Whittle for officer training at the RAF College, Cranwell in Lincolnshire in 1926, a rarity for a "commoner" in what was still a very class-based military structure. For Whittle this was the chance of a lifetime, not only to enter the officer corps but also because the training included flying lessons. Of the few apprentices that were accepted, only about one percent completed the course. Whittle was the exception to the rule, graduating in 1928 at the age of 21, ranked second in his class in academics and an "Exceptional to Above Average" pilot.

Another requirement of the course was that each student had to produce a thesis for graduation. Whittle decided to write his thesis on future developments in aircraft design, notably high-speed flight at high altitudes and speeds over 500 mph (800 km/h). He showed that incremental improvements in existing propeller engines were unlikely to make such flight routine. Instead he described what is today referred to as a motor jet, a motor using a conventional piston engine to provide compressed air to a combustion chamber whose exhaust was used directly for thrust – essentially an afterburner attached to a propeller engine. The design was not a new one, it had been talked about for some time in the industry but Whittle's interest was to demonstrate that at increased altitudes the lower outside air pressure would increase its efficiency. For long-range flight, using an Atlantic-crossing mailplane as his example, the engine would spend most of its time at high altitude and thus could outperform a conventional powerplant.

 

Development Of The Jet Engine

Whittle continued working on the motor jet principle after his thesis work and eventually abandoned it when further calculations showed it would weigh as much as a conventional engine of the same thrust. While thinking about the idea he thought "Why not substitute a turbine for the piston engine?" Instead of using a piston engine to provide the compressed air for the burner, a turbine could be used to extract some power from the exhaust and power a compressor, like those used for superchargers. The leftover exhaust thrust would power the aircraft.

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Whittle's first engine

Earlier, in July 1926, A. A. Griffith published a paper on compressors and turbines, which he had been studying at the RAE. He showed that such designs up to this point had been flying "stalled", and that by making the compressor blades into an aerofoil shape, their efficiency could be dramatically improved. The paper went on to describe how the increased efficiency of these sorts of compressors and turbines would allow a jet engine to be produced, although he felt the idea was impractical, and instead suggested using the power as a turboprop. At the time most superchargers used a centrifugal compressor, so there was limited interest in the paper.

In late 1929 Whittle sent his concept to the Air Ministry to see if it would be any interest. With little knowledge of the topic they turned to the only other person who had written on the subject and passed the paper on to Griffith. Griffith appears to have been convinced that Whittle's "simple" design could never achieve the sorts of efficiencies needed for a practical engine. After pointing out an error in one of Whittle's calculations, he went on to comment that the centrifugal design would be too large for aircraft use and that using the jet directly for power would be rather inefficient. The RAF returned comment to Whittle, where they referred to the design as "impracticable."

Others in the RAF were not so sure. In particular Johnny Johnson convinced him to patent the idea in January 1930. Since the RAF was not interested in the concept they did not declare it secret, which meant that Whittle was able to retain the rights to the idea, which would have otherwise been the property of the RAF. This rejection would later turn out to be a stroke of luck.

Meanwhile Whittle moved onto the Officers' Engineering Course at RAF Henlow, Bedfordshire in 1932 and then to Peterhouse, a college of Cambridge University, in 1934, graduating in 1936 with a First in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos.

 

Power Jets

Whittle's jet engine patent lapsed in 1935 because he could not afford the renewal fee of £5. Soon after this he was approached by two ex-RAF men, Rolf Dudley-Williams and James Collingwood Tinling, who wanted to expand the development of his engine. The three incorporated as Power Jets Ltd. in 1936 with a bank loan of £2,000. Work was started on an experimental engine at a factory in Rugby, Warwickshire belonging to British Thomson-Houston, a steam turbine company. The RAF still saw no value in the effort but although Whittle was still a pilot they placed him on the Special Duty List and agreed to allow him to work on the design as long as it took no more than six hours a week.

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The Gloster E.28/39, the first British aircraft to fly with a turbojet engine

Funding development of the first engine, known as the WU (Whittle Unit) was a serious problem. Although privately funded, most potential investors shied from a project that appeared to be semi-secret yet had no RAF (Royal Air Force) backing. Something seemed to be amiss; if the project was going to work, why didn't the RAF fund it? Once again it seemed not everyone was so skeptical of Whittle's ideas and in October 1936 Henry Tizard, the rector of Imperial College London and chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee, sent details of Whittle's engine to Griffith once again. Griffith had by this time started construction of his own engine design; perhaps in order to avoid tainting his efforts, he returned a much more positive review. He remained highly critical of some features, notably the use of jet thrust, seemingly ignoring the fact that its performance at high speed and altitude was the crucial aspect of the program

Even with these problems Power Jets were able to complete the WU, which ran successfully on April 12, 1937. Tizard pronounced it "streets ahead" of any other advanced engine he had seen and managed to interest the Air Ministry enough to fund development with a contract for £6,000 to develop a flyable version. Nevertheless it was a year before all of the funds were available, greatly delaying development.

Meanwhile testing continued with the WU, which showed an alarming tendency to race out of control. Due to the dangerous nature of the work being carried out, in 1938 development was largely moved from Rugby to the BTH's semi-disused Ladywood foundry at nearby Lutterworth in Leicestershire. There was a successful run of the WU there in March 1938. Although the potential of the engine was obvious, the Air Ministry remained focused on the production of piston engine designs.

All of these delays and the lack of funding slowed the project. In Germany, Hans von Ohain had started work on a prototype in 1935^] and had by this point passed the prototype stage and was building the first flyable design,^] the Heinkel HeS 3. There is little reason to believe that Whittle's efforts would not have been at the same level or more advanced had the Air Ministry taken a greater interest in the design. When the war started in September 1939, Power Jets had a payroll of only 10 and Griffith's efforts at the RAE and Metropolitan Vickers were similarly small.

The stress of the continual on-again-off-again development and problems with the engine had a serious toll on Whittle. He suffered from stress-related ailments such as eczema and heart palpitations, while his weight dropped to 9 stone (126 pounds/57 kg). In order to keep to his sixteen-hour workdays, he sniffed Benzedrine during the day and then took tranquilizers and sleeping pills at night to offset the effects and allow him to sleep. Over this period he became irritable and developed an "explosive" temper.

Following the outbreak of World War II the Air Ministry changed priorities and once again looked at the various advanced projects underway. By 1939, Power Jets could barely afford to keep the lights on when yet another visit was made by Air Ministry personnel. This time Whittle was able to run the WU at high power for 20 minutes without any difficulty. One of the members of the team was the Director of Scientific Research, H. E. Wimperis, who walked out of the demonstration utterly convinced of the importance of the project.

A contract for full-scale development was immediately sent to Power Jets, along with a number of tenders to various companies to set up production lines for up to 3,000 engines a month in 1942. Power Jets had no manufacturing capability, so the Air Ministry offered shared production and development contracts with BTH, Vauxhall and Rover. However, the contract was eventually taken up by Rover only. They also sent out a contract for a simple airframe to carry the engine, which was quickly taken up by Gloster.

Whittle had already studied the problem of turning the massive WU into a flyable design and with the new contract work started in earnest on the "Whittle Supercharger Type W.1." However, Rover was unable to deliver the W.1 production engine before Gloster's experimental airframe was ready. Whittle then cobbled together an engine built from various test parts and called it the W.1X (the X standing for experimental), which ran for the first time on December 14 1940. This engine powered the Gloster E.28/39 for taxi testing in Gloster, near the factory, when it took to the air for two or three short hops of several hundred yards and about 6 foot from the ground on April 7 1941.^[1]

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The W2/700 engine flew in the Gloster E.28/39, the first British aircraft to fly with a turbojet engine, and the Gloster Meteor.

The "full" W.1 of 3.8 kN (850 lbf) thrust ran on April 12, 1941 and on May 15, 1941 the W.1-powered E.28/39 took off from Cranwell at 7.40 pm, flying for seventeen minutes and reaching a maximum speed of around 340 mph(545 km/h). Within days it was reaching 370 mph (600 km/h) at 25,000ft (7,600 meters) exceeding the performance of the contemporary Spitfires. Success of the design was now evident to all and nearly every engine company in Britain started their own crash efforts to catch up with Power Jets.

A newer design known as the W.2 was then started. Like the W.1 it featured a "reverse flow" design of the burners, in which the heated air from the flame cans was piped back towards the front of the engine before entering the turbine area. This allowed the engine to be "folded", with the flame cans lying around the turbine area, and therefore making for a shorter engine.

Power Jets also spent some time in May 1940 drawing up the W.2Y, a similar design with a "straight through" airflow that resulted in a longer engine and (more critically) driveshaft but with a somewhat simpler layout. In order to reduce the weight of the driveshaft as much as possible, the W.2Y used a large cylindrical shaft almost as large as the turbine disk, "necked down" at either end where it connected to the turbine and compressor.

The Air Ministry was eager to obtain an operational jet aircraft and authorized BTH to press ahead with a twin-engine jet interceptor, which would evolve into the Gloster Meteor. The Meteor was intended to use either the W.2 or the similar Halford H.1 (later named "Goblin") but de Havilland later decided to keep all the Halfords for their design, the de Havilland Vampire.

 

The Power Jets Ltd

 

Rover

In 1941 Rover set up a new laboratory for Whittle's team along with a production line at their disused Barnoldswick factory but they also set up a parallel effort with their own engineers at Waterloo Mill, Clitheroe. Here Adrian Lombard attempted to develop the W.2 into a production quality design, dispensing with Whittle's "reverse flow" burners and developing a longer but simpler "straight-through" engine instead. Work at Barnoldswick continued on Whittle's original design, now known as the W.2B/23, while Lombard's new design became the W.2B/26. Whittle was upset by this course of events, feeling that all work should concentrate on producing a single design as soon as possible.

By late 1941 it was obvious to all that the arrangement between Power Jets and Rover was not working. Whittle was frustrated by Rover's inability to deliver production-quality parts, as well as with their "we know better than you" attitude and became increasingly vocal. Rover was losing interest in the project after the delays and constant harassment from Power Jets.

 

The Rover Company

 

Rolls-Royce

In 1940, Stanley Hooker of Rolls-Royce had met with Whittle and later introduced him to the current CEO of Rolls-Royce, Ernest Hives. Hooker led the supercharger division at Rolls-Royce, which was naturally suited to jet engine work. Hives agreed to supply key parts to help the project and it was Rolls engineers who helped solve the surging problems seen in the early engines. In early 1942 Whittle contracted Rolls for six engines as well, known as the WR.1, identical to the existing W.1.

The problems at Rover became a "public secret" and eventually Spencer Wilkes of Rover met with Hives and Hooker at the Swan and Royal pub near the Barnoldswick factory. They decided to trade the jet factory at Barnoldswick for Rolls' tank engine factory in Nottingham. A handshake sealed the deal. The handover took place on January 1 1943, although the official date was later. Rolls soon closed Rover's parallel plant at Clitheroe, although they continued development of the W.2B/26 that had been developed there.

Testing and production was immediately stepped up. In December Rover had tested the W.2B for a total of 37 hours but within the next month Rolls-Royce tested it for 390 hours. The W.2B passed its first 100 hour test at full performance of 725 kgf (7.11 kN) on May 7, 1943. The prototype Meteor airframe was already complete and took to the air on June 12, 1943. Production versions started rolling off the line in October, first known as the W.2B/23, then the RB.23 (for Rolls-Barnoldswick) and eventually the Rolls-Royce Welland. Barnoldswick was too small for full-scale production and turned back into a pure research facility under Hooker, while a new factory was set up in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The W.2B/26, as the Rolls-Royce Derwent, opened the new line and soon replaced the Welland, allowing the production lines at Barnoldswick to shut down in late 1944.

Despite lengthy delays (Hitler initially demanded the Me 262 be a bomber), the Luftwaffe beat the British efforts into the air by nine months, which in turn, had also been delayed at Rover. Since their German counterparts were forced to deal with a serious shortage of high temperature alloys, the Junker engines (axial-flow designed by Dr. Anselm Franz) would typically last 10-25 hours (longer with an experienced pilot) and sometimes exploded on their first startup. Thus the engines that powered the Meteor were much more reliable by comparison. The equivalent British engine would run for 150 hours between overhauls and had twice the power-to-weight ratio and half the specific fuel consumption. By the end of the war every major engine company in Britain was working on jet designs based on the Whittle pattern or licensed outright.

 

The Rolls-Royce "Welland" Engine

Rolls - Royce Aircraft Engines

 

Continued Development

With the W.2 proceeding smoothly, Whittle was sent to Boston, Massachusetts in mid-1942 to help the General Electric jet program GE, the primary supplier of turbochargers in the US, was well suited to quickly starting jet production. A combination of the W.2B design and a simple airframe from Bell Aircraft flew in autumn of 1942 as the Bell XP-59A Airacomet.

Whittle's developments at Power Jets continued, resulting in the improved W.2/500 and later the W.2/700. Both were fitted for testing on Meteors, the W.2/700 later being fitted with an afterburner ("reheat" in British terminology), as well as experimental water injection to cool the engine and allow for higher power settings without melting the turbine. Whittle also turned his attention to the axial-flow championed by Griffith, designing the L.R.1. Other developments included the use of fans to provide more mass-flow, either at the front of the engine as in a modern turbofan or at the rear, which is much less common but somewhat simpler.

Whittle's work had caused a minor revolution within the British engine manufacturing industry and even before the E.28/39 flew most companies had set up their own research efforts. In 1939, Metropolitan-Vickers set up a project to develop an axial-flow design as a turboprop but later re-engineered the design as a pure jet known as the Metrovick F.2. Rolls-Royce had already copied the W.1 to produce the low-rated WR.1 but later stopped work on this project after taking over Rover's efforts. de Havilland started a jet fighter project in 1941, the Spider Crab—later called Vampire—along with their own engine to power it: Frank Halford's Goblin (Halford H.1). Armstrong Siddeley also developed an axial-flow design, the ASX but reversed Vickers' thinking and later modified it into a turboprop instead, the Python.

With practically every engine company producing their own designs, Power Jets was no longer able to generate realistic income. In April 1944 Power Jets was nationalized, becoming the National Gas Turbine Establishment at the original Ladywood experimental site. In 1946 it was reorganized with the RAE divisions joining them.

 

After The War

 

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Frank Whittle speaking to employees of the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory (Now known as the NASA Glenn Research Center), USA, in 1946

Whittle, disenfranchised, quit what was left of Power Jets in 1948. Long a socialist, his experiences with nationalisation changed his mind and he later campaigned for the Conservative Party (especially for his friend Dudley Williams, who was Managing Director of Power Jets and became Conservative Member of Parliament for Exeter). He also retired from the RAF, complaining of ill health, leaving with the rank of Air Commodore. Shortly afterwards he received £100,000 from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, partly to pay him for turning over all of his shares of Power Jets when it was nationalized. He was made a Knight of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in that same year.

He soon joined BOAC as a technical advisor on aircraft gas turbines. He traveled extensively over the next few years, viewing jet engine developments in USA, Canada, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He left BOAC in 1952 and spent the next year working on a biography, Jet: The Story of a Pioneer. He was awarded the Royal Society of Arts' Albert Medal that year.

Returning to work in 1953, he accepted a position as a Mechanical Engineering Specialist in one of Shell Oil's subsidiaries. Here he developed a new type of drill that was self-powered by a turbine running on the mud pumped into the hole that was used as a lubricant during drilling. Normally a well is drilled by attaching rigid sections of pipe together and powering the cutting head by spinning the pipe but Whittle's design meant that the drill had no strong mechanical connection to the head frame, allowing for much lighter piping to be used. He gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1954 on the The Story of Petroleum.

Whittle left Shell in 1957 but the project was picked up in 1961 by Bristol Siddeley Engines, who set up Bristol Siddeley Whittle Tools to further develop the concept. In 1966 Rolls Royce purchased Bristol Siddeley but the financial pressures and eventual bankruptcy due to cost overruns of the RB211 project led to the slow wind-down and eventual disappearance of Whittle's "turbo-drill". The design would eventually appear only in the late 1990s, when it was combined with continuous coiled pipe to allow uninterrupted drilling at any angle. The "continuous-coil drilling" can drill straight down into a pocket of oil and then sideways through the pocket to allow the oil to flow out faster.

In 1976 Whittle emigrated to the US and the next year he accepted the position of NAVAIR Research Professor at the US Naval Academy Annapolis. His research concentrated on the boundary layer before his professorship became part-time from 1978 to 1979. The part time post enabled him to write a textbook on gas turbine thermodynamics. It was at this time that he met von Ohain, who was working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. At first upset because he believed von Ohain had developed his engine after seeing Whittle's patent, he eventually became convinced that von Ohain's development was his own. The two became good friends and often toured the US giving talks together. In 1991 von Ohain and Whittle were awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize for their work on turbojet engines.

 

His Later Life

Frank Whittle married Dorothy Lee in May 1930 and they had two sons.^[1] While at Cranwell he lodged in a bungalow at Dorrington. The marriage was dissolved in 1976 and Whittle re-married to Hazel Hall. He died on 8 August, 1996 of lung cancer, at his home in Columbia, Maryland, USA. He was cremated in America and his ashes were flown to England and they were placed in a memorial in a church in Cranwell.^[1]

 

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Frank Whittle. 'Whittle - the Jet Pioneer' (History Channel broadcast & DVD). The History Channel (TV broadcast) & Quantal films (extended DVD of broadcast). Retrieved on 2007-10-05.

• John Golley (1997). Genesis of the Jet: Frank Whittle and the Invention of the Jet Engine. Crowood Press. ISBN 1-85310-860-X.

• David S Brooks (1997). Vikings at Waterloo: Wartime Work on the Whittle Jet Engine by the Rover Company. Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. ISBN 1-872922-08-2

Wikipedia

 

 

Sir Frank Whittle

OBITUARIES

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 

SATURDAY AUGUST 10, 1996

AIR CDRE SIR FRANK WHITTLE, who has died in America aged  89, was the greatest aero-engineer of the century

Whittle ensured that Britain was the first to enter the jet age when, on May 15 1941, the jet-propelled Gloster-Whittle E 28/39 flew successfully from Cranwell.

During 10 hours of flying over the next few days, the experimental aircraft - flown by the test pilot Gerry Sayer - achieved a top speed of 370 mph at 25,000 ft. This was faster than the Spitfire, or any other conventional propeller-driven machine.

Although this was a moment of triumph for Whittle, it was tinged with some bitterness, for he had had to overcome years of obstruction from the authorities, lack of funding for and faith in his brilliant ideas. He felt, with justification, that if he had been taken seriously earlier, Britain would have been able to develop jets before the Second World War broke out.

As early as October 1932 he had been granted a patent for the first turbo-jet engine, but the Air Ministry's indifference had caused a long delay in realising his ideas. Thus it gave Whittle particular satisfaction when, days after the E 28/39's maiden flight, Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Air Minister, and a gathering of officials, stood stunned as Sayer put it through its paces over Cranwell.

Click on Picture to enlarge

 As John Golley noted in his biography (Airlife, 1987): "Whittle - who had been the first man to get a turbo-jet running - had thrust Britain forward into the Jet Age and stood the aviation industry on its head."

Whittle's engineering genius led to the creation of several other aircraft: the RAF's Gloster Meteor, which saw action during the latter stages of the Second World War; the de Havilland Comet, the world's first passenger jet, and Concorde.

 Concorde's maiden flight in 1969 set the seal on Whittle's endeavors. He maintained that once his system of propulsion was available, no great invention was required for an aircraft to use it.

 Frank Whittle was born on June 1 1907, in the Earlsdon district of Coventry, the son of a foreman in a machine tool factory.

When Frank was four his father, a skilful and inventive mechanic who spent Sundays at a drawing board, gave him a toy aeroplane with a clockwork propeller and suspended it from a gas mantle. During the First World War Frank's interest in aeroplanes increased when he saw aircraft being built at the local Standard works, and was excited when an aeroplane force-landed near his home.

In 1916 the family moved to Leamington Spa, where Frank's father had bought the Leamington Valve and Piston Ring Company, which comprised a few lathes and other tools, and a single-cylinder gas engine. Frank became familiar with machine tools and did piece work for his father.

Frank won a scholarship to Leamington College, but when his father's business faltered there was not enough money to keep him there. Instead he spent hours in the local library, learning about steam and gas turbines.

In January 1923, having passed the entrance examination, Whittle reported at RAF Halton as an aircraft apprentice. He lasted only two days; only five feet tall and with a small chest measurement, he failed the medical.

Six months later, after subjecting himself to an intense physical training program supported by a special diet, he was rejected again. Undeterred, he applied using a different first name, passed the written examination again and was ordered to Cranwell where he was accepted.

In 1926, strongly recommended by his commanding officer, he passed a flying medical and was awarded one of five coveted cadetships at the RAF College. The cadetship meant that he would now train as a pilot. In his second term he went solo in an Avro 504N biplane after eight hours' instruction.

Whittle graduated to Bristol fighters and, after a temporary loss of confidence due to blacking out in a tight loop, developed into something of a daredevil. He was punished for hedge-hopping. But he shone in science subjects and in 1928 wrote a revolutionary thesis entitled Future Developments in Aircraft Design.

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Gloster E.28/39

THE PAPER discussed the possibilities of rocket propulsion and of gas turbines driving propellers, although it stopped short of proposing the use of the gas turbine for jet propulsion. However, Whittle launched his quest for a power plant capable of providing high speed at very high altitude.

In the summer of 1928 he passed out second and received the Andy Fellowes Memorial Prize for Aeronautical Sciences. He was rated "Exceptional to Above Average" as a pilot on Siskin operational fighters - but red-inked into his logbook were warnings about over confidence, an inclination to perform to the gallery and low flying.

At the end of August 1928, Pilot Officer Whittle joined No 111, an operational fighter squadron equipped with Siskins and based at Hornchurch, and was then posted to the Central Flying School, Wittering, for a flying instructor's course. In his spare time he conceived a gas turbine to produce a propelling jet, rather than driving a propeller. A sympathetic instructor, Flying Officer Pat Johnson, who had been a patent agent in civilian life, arranged an interview with the commandant.

This resulted in an almost immediate call from the Air Ministry and an introduction to Dr A A Griffith at the ministry's South Kensington laboratory. Griffith was already interested in gas turbines for driving propellers, and scorned Whittle's proposals. The Air Ministry informed Whittle that successful development of his scheme was considered impracticable. Whittle nevertheless took out his jet patent, and qualified as a flying instructor.

Pat Johnson, still convinced by Whittle's ideas, set up a meeting at British Thomson-Houston, near Rugby, with the company's chief turbine engineer. While not questioning the validity of Whittle's invention, BTH baulked at the prospect of spending £60,000 on development.

At the end of 1930 Whittle was posted to test floatplanes at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe. On leave he publicized his jet engine proposal, unsuccessfully. Fortuitously, a friend from Cranwell days, Rolf Dudley-Williams, was based at Felixstowe with a flying-boat squadron, and his efforts on Whittle's behalf soon bore fruit.

In the summer of 1932 Whittle was sent on an engineering course at RAF Henlow. He did so well that, exceptionally in that period, he was permitted to take a two-year engineering course as a member of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, where in 1936 he took a First in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos.

While he was at Cambridge his jet engine patent lapsed; the Air Ministry refused to pay the £5 renewal fee. But in May that year he received an inquiry from Dudley-Williams, who was by then a partner with another former RAF pilot, named Tinling, in General Enterprises Ltd.

The two men undertook to cover the expenses of further patents, to raise money, and to act as Whittle's agents. In the New Year of 1936 an agreement was signed between Dudley-Williams and Tinling, Whittle, the president of the Air Council, and O T Falk & Partners, a firm of City bankers.

A company, Power Jets, was incorporated and Whittle received permission from the Air Ministry to serve as honorary chief engineer and technical consultant for five years, providing there was no conflict with his official duties.

It was as well, because in July, turbo-jet experiments began at Junkers and Heinkel in Germany; at this stage, Whittle's ideas were not subject to the Official Secrets Act. It was a relief when the He 178, after some promise, was scrapped.

Whittle, seeking somewhere to develop his design on modest Power Jets' capital, returned to BTH at Rugby and the company contracted to build a "WU" (Whittle Unit), his first experimental jet engine. At the same time he tried to persuade companies to develop the specialized materials he needed.

First attempts to run Whittle's jet at Rugby in April 1937 produced a series of alarming incidents as it raced out of control and BTH hands bolted for cover. Money was required for further development, but this was scarce, although an Air Ministry contract provided a paltry £1,900.

In 1938 BTH moved the test-bed to its Ladywood works at Lutterworth where, in September, the engine, reconstructed for the third time, was assembled. A further £6,000 of Air Ministry money was pledged and engine tests resumed in December.

WITH THE OUTBREAK of war in September 1939, the project got a further lease of life. The Air Ministry commissioned a more powerful W 2 from Power Jets, and asked the Gloster Aircraft Company for an experimental aeroplane, specified as E 28/39.

With finances more secure, Whittle faced a new threat. Relations with BTH, never easy, deteriorated as the company took the view that the jet engine would not compare favorably with conventional power plants. Whittle was further bedevilled by various strands of officialdom blowing hot and cold about Power Jets' future, and also the politics of possible participation by the Rover motor-car company.

In the event, the Government cut the ground from under Whittle's feet in early 1940, bypassing Power Jets and offering shared production and development contracts direct to BTH and Rover. Power Jets was demoted to the level of a research organization.

Matters worsened when the Air Ministry, eager to obtain an operational jet fighter, side-stepped Whittle, ignoring the E 28/39 and authorizing Glosters to press ahead with a twin-engine jet interceptor specified as F 9/40. This was to become the Meteor. Worse still, in 1941 the ministry's director of engine production was to agree to Rover alterations to Whittle's design behind his back.

But fortunately, on July 9, Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, personally assured Whittle that the jet fighter would go ahead.

Whittle was relieved by the reprieve, but agonized over the difficulties of, literally, getting his engine off the ground. He smoked and drank heavily, and the elbowing-out by BTH and Rover further depressed him.

But the events of April and May 1941, when he saw his E 28 test-bed aeroplane flying successfully at Cranwell, lifted his gloom. When Johnson, who had encouraged Whittle for so long, patted him on the back and said, "Frank, it flies," he replied, "Well, that was what it was bloody well designed to do, wasn't it?".

Details of Whittle's inventions were made available both in Britain and America. Rolls-Royce, de Havilland and Metropolitan-Vickers became involved.

In June 1942, Whittle was flown to Boston to help General Electric to overcome problems. They built the engine under license in America with the astonishing result that Bell Aircraft's experimental Airacomet flew in the autumn of 1942, beating the Meteor into the skies by five months.

Returning home, Whittle arrived at Power Jets' new factory at Whetstone. While it was nothing like the size of the plants devoted to his jet in America, he was astonished by the factory's size after so many years of parsimony, although in practice it could not provide the capacity that would be needed.

Rolls-Royce stepped in and took over work on the W 2B engine, which in 1943 cleared the way for Whittle to plan further improvements which would evolve as later mark numbers. Then, with Rolls-Royce in almost total control of Power Jets, Whittle lost touch for three months while he attended the RAF Staff College.

Fearing in this period that private industry would harvest the pioneering discoveries of Power Jets for nothing, Whittle suggested that it should be nationalized.

By the time Whittle had come to regret this proposal, he was taken up on it by Sir Stafford Cripps, the Minister of Aircraft Production. Cripps imposed a price of £135,563.10s, and renamed the company Power Jets (Research & Development). Whittle received nothing, having earlier handed over his shares worth £47,000 to the ministry.

But six months later Whittle was promoted air commodore and had the satisfaction of knowing that Meteors of No 616 squadron were shooting down V 1 flying-bombs.

In 1946 Whittle accepted a post as Technical Adviser on Engine Production and Design (Air) to the Controller (Air) at the Ministry of Supply. He again became ill, during an American lecture tour, and in 1948 retired from the RAF on medical grounds. Shortly afterwards he was awarded an ex-gratia sum of £100,000 by the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, and he was knighted.

Whittle was appointed CBE in 1944, CB in 1947, and KBE in 1948. He was made a Commander, the US Legion of Merit, in 1946. In 1986 he was appointed a member of the Order of Merit. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Whittle settled in America in 1976, and was a member of the Faculty of the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.

He published Jet (1953), and Gas Turbine Aero-Thermodynamics (1981).

Frank Whittle married, in 1930, Dorothy Mary Lee; they had two sons. The marriage was dissolved in 1976 and that year he married Hazel Hall.

© THE DAILY TELEGRAPH