How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

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How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby dutchman » Sun Apr 17, 2022 5:35 am

The test of the experimental technology ended up changing the world

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If you were in Rugby 85 years ago you may have been disturbed by an almighty roar, the likes of which had never been heard before. April 12, 1937, is a day which changed the world of aviation forever and became the defining moment in the career of Coventry-born engineer Frank Whittle when a jet engine was tested for the first time.

Mr Whittle was born in a terraced house on Newcombe Road, Coventry, to engineer Moses Whittle and Sara Alice Garlick in 1907. The family moved to nearby Leamington Spa and his father purchased an engineering company in the town.

The young Frank developed an interest in aviation and engineering as a result. At the age of 15, determined to be a pilot, he applied successfully to join the RAF.

At the age of 21, he had graduated as a pilot officer and came second for academics out of his cohort. It was during his time as an RAF officer that he started to develop the concept of the jet engine.

85 years ago, the Earlsdon native conducted the first test run of the jet engine, the Power Jets Whittle Unit, at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby. The engine was fraught with problems from the start, with fuel injection issues causing the turbine to run out of control.

From an archived interview, retrieved by GE Aviation, Whittle described the first run of his Whittle Unit (WU) prototype jet engine: "I opened the control valve which admitted fuel. For a second or two, the speed increased slowly. Then, with a rising shriek like an air-raid siren, the speed began to rise rapidly and large patches of red heat became visible on the combustion chamber casing. The engine was obviously out of control."

It would not be until 1939 that the issues were fixed and the engine was deemed viable and it was another two years after that before the first British jet aircraft took to the skies. During that time, German engineers had caught up - in controversial circumstances.

In January 1930, Whittle submitted his first patent for the jet engine, which was granted in 1932. Meanwhile, a German engineer named Hans von Ohain started work on a similar design in 1935.

Whittle's patent was available in German libraries and Ohain later admitted he had took inspiration from Whittle's work. By 1937 he had completed work on the test prototype, the Heinkel HeS 1, which was developed into the HeS 3 and powered the first viable jet aircraft the Heinkel He 178, which first flew on August 27, 1939, just days before the start of the Second World War.

In the meantime, Power Jets was struggling financially when a visit was made by members of the Air Ministry on June 30, 1939. A successful test led to funding for the project and an order for a flyable version of the engine.

It would take until 1941 for Whittle and Power Jets to produce an airworthy engine, the W1. It was fitted inside a Gloster E28/39 which was specifically built for Whittle's engine and the plane first flew on May 15, 1941, at RAF Cranwell.

Development on jet engines continued and the first viable British jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor, took its maiden flight in 1943. The Meteor was developed from the E28/39 and later models of the plane flew under the power of Rover W2B engines, which were developed from Whittle's W1.

In 1948, Sir Frank retired from the RAF with the rank of Air Commodore. In recognition of his work of the jet engine, he received a knighthood.

Only 12 years after the first test run of a jet engine was conducted in Rugby, the world's first jet powered airliner came into service, the de Havilland Comet. Since then, development has continued and now travelling the world has never been faster or easier - something we all owe to Sir Frank Whittle.

Today, the Sir Frank Whittle Business Centre stands near where he conducted his first test in Rugby 85 years ago. A statue of Sir Frank also stands under the Whittle Arches outside Coventry Transport Museum.

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Re: How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby dutchman » Sun Apr 17, 2022 5:48 am

Props to to the Telegraph for mentioning Hans von Ohain. Heinkel went on to develop a twin engined jet very similar to the Meteor, the HE 280, but it was ignored by the Luftwaffe in favour of the later and massively overrated Messerschmidt Me 262.

Whittle's invention was actually a dead-end as it was a centrifugal fan design as opposed to the German axial-flow system which is used today but it was the best available at the time.
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Re: How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby Blitzkid » Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:13 pm

Rebbonk
I should of added that the scientist hut was made so that if there was an explosion the top would fly off, and the sides would fall outwards, but it never was tested. but the amazing thing was the Sapphire engine was being put through it's paces next to it at the same time. the Sapphire test bed had only two side walls, no front no back no top, just high wall's on either side, like a giant tank with wires all over it.
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Re: How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby Blitzkid » Thu Apr 21, 2022 11:56 am

The rocket at Ansty threw the same length flame from the Bowl as the doodlebug did from the flying bomb, but the fuel that drove it ran out near the south of London, but the V2 Rocket was a lot more lethal You never heard it, you never saw it, it just landed, if you were near you were dead, my elder sister was at Raynes park south London on a ak-ak site I was at Folkstone, so we would meet in London for a few hours, A V2 rocket fell on March the 8th 1945 it Hit Smithfield market, 110 people died. had the Germans had those Weapons three months earlier we would have to lose the war.

My sister was a plotter on the gun site, if they caught a plane in their sites, they had only 15 seconds to fire the gun before it was out of reach. so yo can see why Coventry never shot one down, the barrage balloons did more than three times the damage to allied planes than enemy ones.
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Re: How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby dutchman » Sun May 01, 2022 5:00 am

Frank Whittle wasn't the only Coventry inventor who contributed to the development of the jet engine.

Singer Frank Ifield's Australian-born father Richard Joseph Ifield invented the Ifield fuel pump used in early jet engines while working at Lucas Industries in Coventry between 1936 and 1948.
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Re: How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby Blitzkid » Mon May 02, 2022 8:36 am

DUTCHMAN
Brilliant, thank you, I never knew that, I read the monthly book 'Flight' every month, during the forties, can't remember that, we learn something new everyday.
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Re: How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby Blitzkid » Mon May 02, 2022 8:50 am

My post april 21st should have read Barrage Balloons did more damage to allied planes than ENEMY PLANES.
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Re: How Coventry inventor Frank Whittle kicked off the jet age 85 years ago

Postby rebbonk » Mon May 02, 2022 1:56 pm

Blitzkid wrote:My post april 21st should have read Barrage Balloons did more damage to allied planes than ENEMY PLANES.

Error corrected :thumbsup:
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
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