Sir Frank Whittle (1906 - 1996)
Although it was a moment of triumph for Whittle, it was tinged with some bitterness at the years of obstruction from the authorities and the constant strain of raising funds to pursue his ideas. At the Cranwell flight Pat Johnson, a long term supporter remarked "Frank, It flies" to which he responded "Well, that was what it was bloody well designed to do, wasn't it?". He was fully justified in feeling that had he been taken seriously then Britain could have had an operational jet aircraft before the outbreak of the Second World War.
As early as 1932 he had been granted a patent for the first turbojet engine, but the Air Ministry's indifference was to cause huge delays in realising his ideas so it must have given Whittle some satisfaction to see the stunned amazement of Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Air Minister and other officials when a few days after the maiden flight Gerry Sayer put the Gloster E28/39 through its paces at Cranwell, his invention was to stand the aviation industry on its head and herald a new era in aviation.
The Whittle U1 was a proof of concept design and never intended for flight
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. He won a scholarship to Leamington College but was forced to leave when his fathers business faltered so he was forced instead to continue his education in the local library reading about steam engines and gas turbines.
In January 1923 having passed the entrance examination he reported to RAF Halton as an aircraft apprentice but underweight and only five feet tall failed the medical and was sent home. Six months later having subjected himself to an intense physical training regime and a special diet he retook the entrance exam under a different first name reported to RAF Cranwell where this time he was accepted. In 1926, recommended by his commanding officer he took and passed the flying medical and was awarded one of only five cadetships to the RAF College. In his second term of pilot training and after only eight hours instruction he flew solo for the first time in an Avro 504N biplane.
The Whittle W1 with ten combustion chambers was designed to apply
the principles proven by the U1 and would power the Gloster E28/39
In August 1928, Pilot Officer Whittle joined 111 Squadron at Hornchurch which was equipped with Siskins, fifteen months later he was posted to Central Flying School at Wittering for a flying instructors course where he met W.E.P Johnson, a flying instructor and former civilian patent agent. It was Johnson who after learning of Whittle's idea for a gas turbine power plant 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 who poured cold water on the idea declaring it to have little practical application because the high temperature materials necessary simply did not yet exist, he was however encouraged by Johnson to patent his idea anyway although the lack of official support meant that the patent filed in 1930 was not marked secret and when granted in 1932 published around the world.
Whittle and Pat Johnson approached British Thomson-Houston near Rugby and met with their chief turbine engineer but while they did not question the validity of the invention they could not commit to spend the estimated £60,000 to develop the idea. By the end of 1930 Whittle was at Felixstowe testing float-planes for the Marine Aircraft Establishment. On leave he publicised his jet engine proposal, tirelessly but unsuccessfully until meeting Rolf Dudley-Williams again a friend from Cranwell days who was serving with a Felixstowe flying boat squadron.
The Whittle turbojet engine was a very compact design
Whittle returned to BTH at Rugby and contracted them on modest Power Jets capital to build a WU (Whittle Unit) experimental jet engine while simultaneously trying to persuade companies to develop the specialist materials he needed. The first attempts to run Whittle's jet at Rugby in 1937 were alarming with the unit running out of control and technicians running for cover, money was needed for further development and it was scarce but sufficient funds were found including a further Air Ministry contract for £1,900. In 1938 BTH moved its test unit to the Ladywood works at Lutterworth where they reconstructed the U1 for the third time and continued to experiment with combustion chamber design eventually making enough progress to win an Air ministry contract to build a working turbojet designated the Whittle W1 with a parallel contract placed with Glosters for an experimental aeroplane to be built in close cooperation with Powerjets design team.
The outbreak of war in 1939 gave the project new life and resulted in a commission by the Air Ministry for a more powerful W2 version capable of powering an operational fighter aircraft. This however was only going to increase the pressure on Whittle as many organisations sought to profit from Whittles work by winning their own contracts with the Air Ministry, most failing to appreciate that without Whittle they simply had no idea what they were doing and as a result would waste many years and much money for little gain. This applied in particular to Rover and BTH who managed to get Power Jets diminished to the status of a research organisation only.
While politics would continue to hinder progress the inadequacies of Rover would eventually be recognised with Rolls Royce taking over their role in the production of engines for the Meteor. They in contrast to Rover listened to and wanted to learn from Whittle and while the Meteor's first flight would be with de Havilland Halford H1 turbojets the Meteors that went into service with the RAF were all powered by derivatives of the Whittle W2B engine which went into production as the Rolls Royce Welland for the F.Mk1 Meteor, with the improvements to the design and increased power output became the Rolls Royce Derwent IV Meteor.
The entry of America into the jet age could not have begun without Whittle, they were shipped a working Whittle W1 and all the relevant technical information. This was built under license by General Electric as the GE-1 two being were used in America's first jet fighter the Bell XP-59 Airacomet. Whittle travelled to the United states in June 1942 and in addition to helping them resolve issues with the GE-1 also passed on much of his research concerning axial flow turbojets giving them the confidence to design the J35 which would evolve into the successful J47 which would power both the North American Sabre & B47 Stratojet. The Americans also license built a version of the Whittle W2/B as the Allison J33 powering the P80 Shooting star.
On his return from America, Whittle was amazed at the production facilities for his new engines but was to eventually shut out of the industry he created. Powerjets was nationalised and reduced to the status of a research organisation while Rolls Royce, de Havilland and other companies went on to produce commercially succesful engines based on his research. Whittle was horrified and resigned from Powerjets in protest, he did eventually receive compensation in the form of an award of £100,000 from the Royal Commission on awards for inventors. He was to suffer a significant mental breakdown resulting in his hospitalisation forcing his retirement from the RAF on medical grounds but not before being promoted to Air Commodore. His other honours included a CBE in 1944, CB in 1947 & KBE in 1948 becoming Sir Frank Whittle. He married Dorothy Mary Lee in 1930 and they had two sons, this marriage was dissolved in 1976 and that year married American Hazel S Hall, he emigrated to the united states the following year joining the Faculty of the Annapolis Naval Academy in Maryland.
To learn more about Sir Frank Whittle and the early days of turbojet development read 'Jet' by Sir Frank Whittle