Frank Whittle, the son
of a mechanic, was born in Coventry, England, on 1st June, 1907.
He joined the Royal Air Force as an apprentice in 1923. He showed
outstanding ability as a scientist and in 1929 took out a patent
on a turbo-jet engine. However, the Air Ministry rejected his ideas
as impractical.
Whittle studied at Cambridge
University (1934-37) before forming the Power Jets Company. The
Royal Air Force became more interested in Whittle's ideas in 1939
when they heard the news that Hans Ohain in Nazi Germany had developed
the world's first jet plane, the HE 178. At first, it was thought
that Ohain must have stolen Whittle's ideas but in fact they had
both been working independently of each other.
Whittle's jet-propelled
Gloster E28 took its first flight on 15th May, 1941 and travelled
at speeds of 350 mph. This was followed by the Gloster Meteor that
was used to intercept German V1 Flying Bomb. Power Jets Company
was taken over by the British government in 1944.
Whittle retired from
the Royal Air Force in 1948 with the rank of air commodore. He was
knighted and granted a tax-free gift of £100,000 in recognition
of his role in developing the jet-engine. He wrote about his experiences
in his book, Jet: The Story of a Pioneer
(1953).
In 1977 Whittle was appointed
research professor at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. Frank Whittle
died in Columbia, Maryland, on 8th August, 1996.
