Gloster E . 28 / 39 The Gloster E . 28 / 39 , ( also referred to as the " Gloster Whittle " , " Gloster Pioneer " , or " Gloster G . 40 " ) was the first British jet - engined aircraft to fly . It was designed to test the Whittle jet engine in flight , leading to the development of the Gloster Meteor . Design and development . In September 1939 , the Air Ministry issued a specification to Gloster for an aircraft to test one of Frank Whittle ' s turbojet designs in flight . The E . 28 / 39 name comes from the aircraft having been built to the 28th " Experimental " specification issued by the Air Ministry in 1939 . The E . 28 / 39 specification required the aircraft to carry two . 303 Browning machine gun s in each wing , but these were never fitted . Gloster ' s chief designer George Carter worked closely with Whittle , and laid out a small low - wing aircraft of conventional configuration . The jet intake was in the nose , and the tail - fin and elevators were mounted above the jet - pipe . A contract for two prototypes was signed by the Air Ministry on 3 February 1940 , and the first of these was completed by April 1941 . Manufacturing started at Brockworth near Gloucester , but was later moved to Regent Motors in Cheltenham High St ( now the Regent Arcade ) which was considered a location safer from bombing . Testing . Although the initial flight tests were relatively early in the Second World War , the German Heinkel He 178 had been first test - flown on 27 August 1939 , at Rostock - Marienehe on the Baltic Coast , days before the outbreak of the war . The E . 28 / 39 was delivered to Brockworth for ground tests beginning on 7 April 1941 , using a non - flightworthy version of the Power Jets W . 1 engine . These included some short " hops " of about 6 ft in height from the grass airfield . With these initial tests satisfactorily completed , the aircraft was fitted with a flightworthy engine rated for 10 hours use , and then transferred to Cranwell which had a long runway . On 15 May 1941 , Gloster ' s Chief Test Pilot , Flight Lieutenant Gerry Sayer flew the aircraft under jet power for the first time from RAF Cranwell , near Sleaford in Lincolnshire , in a flight lasting 17 minutes . Over the following months , tests continued with increasingly refined versions of the engine . Later in the test program small , auxiliary fins were added near the tips of the tailplanes to provide additional stability in high - speed flight . John Grierson , in 1971 , called these " end - plates " , and wrote that their purpose was to increase the fin area due to the problem of rudder blanking in a side - slip . On 21 October 1942 , Sayer disappeared during an acceptance test flight in a Hawker Typhoon , presumed killed , and his assistant took over testing of the E . 28 / 39 . The oil system had been changed before he flew ; after it was proven , the aircraft was handed over to the RAE for testing by service pilots . The second prototype E . 28 / 39 ( " W4046 " ) - initially powered by a Rover W2B engine - joined the test programme on 1 March 1943 . Testing had revealed problems with engine oil and lubricants . Flying of " W4046 " was by Gloster pilots John Grierson and John Crosby Warren , because Michael Daunt was then involved with the F . 9 / 40 ( the Meteor ) . In April 1943 , " W4046 " flew to Hatfield for a demonstration in front of the Prime Minister and members of the Air Staff . It was taken to Farnborough and fitted with a W2 . B . It achieved 466 mph . On 30 July 1943 , while on a high - altitude test flight , the second prototype was destroyed in a crash resulting from an aileron failure . The accident was attributed to the use of the wrong type of grease in the aileron controls ; one aileron had " stuck in position , sending the aircraft out of control " . The test pilot successfully bailed out from 33 , 000 ft . The first prototype was fitted with the thrust W2 / 500 . It was flown successfully to 42 , 000 ft , but level speed at altitude was not attempted due to fuel shortage . The pilot commented in his report on a need for cockpit heating and a larger fuel tank . It continued flight tests until 1944 . By that time , more advanced turbojet - powered aircraft were available . The Gloster E . 28 / 39 was not able to achieve high speeds , but it proved to be a capable experimental platform and exhibited a " good climb rate and ceiling " . Experience with the E . 28 / 39 paved the way for Britain ' s first operational jet fighter aircraft , the Gloster Meteor . The Meteor used the Rolls - Royce Welland engine , the next stage from the Power Jets W . 1 . Of the E . 28 / 39 Grierson wrote : " The very favourable impressions of jet propulsion obtained . . . have all been endorsed by subsequent flights . . . The E . 28 is a most pleasant little aeroplane to handle , particularly on account of the excellent field of vision from the pilot ' s seat . . . " Survivors . In 1946 , the first prototype ( " W4041 " ) was placed in the Science Museum in Central London , where it is exhibited today in the Flight Gallery . A full - size replica has been placed on an obelisk on a roundabout near the northern perimeter of Farnborough Airfield in Hampshire , as a memorial to Sir Frank Whittle . A similar full - size model is on display in the middle of a roundabout at Lutterworth in Leicestershire ( pictured below ) , where the aircraft ' s engine was produced . A full - scale model taken from the same moulds , with authentic paint scheme and detailing , has been built by members of the Jet Age Museum in Gloucester . It has recently been on display in Brockworth , Gloucester , at the Kemble Air Day and MVT Show also at Kemble , and formed part of the display for the Sir Frank Whittle Centenary commemorations at RAF Cranwell in June 2007 .