The First Meteors and the ME262
After the initial success of the U1, Whittle returned to the drawing board to produce the outline design for the first practical jet engine. The W1 differed from the U1 in that it had ten combustion chanmbers arranged radially around the engine a layout that would remain essentially unchanged in later developments of the design. It was far from easy though to get the engine built in significant numbers due to serious early mis-management by the British Ministry for production which only ended when Rolls Royce took over the responsibility for producing the W.2B engines for the Meteor from Rover in exchange for a Nottingham tank factory.
Centrifugal impeller and engine airflow
The first Whittle engines, W.1, and W.2B were both "centrifugal-flow" engines. They used a turbine similar to a pump impeller to force air into a set of combustion chambers ringed around the engine, this design was reworked by Rolls Royce as the Welland I capable of 1,600lbs (725kg) of thrust. It was air-tested in the tail of a Wellington bomber in 1942 and fitted to the second Gloster G.40 in March 1943.
A redesign of the engine to feature straight-through airflow and improved fuel and oil systems became the Derwent I of 2,000 (900kg) of thrust, further refinements of various versions up to the Mark IV eventually made it capable of producing 2,450 (1,100kg) thrust.
To be continued...