History of the Jet Engine - Who Invented the Jet Engine? By Mary Bellis Updated August 29, 2016. Dr. Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle are both recognized as being the co-inventors of the jet engine. However, each worked separately and knew nothing of the other's work. Hans von Ohain is considered the designer of the first operational turbojet engine while Frank Whittle was the first to register a patent for the turbojet engine in 1930. Though Hans von Ohain was granted a patent for his turbojet engine in 1936, it was Ohain's jet that was the first to fly in 1939. It was't until 1941 that Whittle's jet first flew. Sir Frank Whittle was an English aviation engineer and pilot. The son of a mechanic, Frank Whittle joined the Royal Air Force as an apprentice. He joined a fighter squadron in 1928 and became a test pilot in 1931. The young officer was only 22 when he first thought to use a gas turbine engine to power an airplane.

While often regarded as the father of modern jet propulsion systems, Whittle tried unsuccessfully to obtain official support for study and development of his ideas. continue reading below our video Profile of the Wright Brothers He had to pursue his research on his own initiative and received his first patent on turbojet propulsion in January 1930. With private financial support, he began construction of his first engine in 1935. This engine, which had a single-stage centrifugal compressor coupled to a single-stage turbine, was successfully bench tested in April 1937. It was only a laboratory test rig that was never intended for use in an aircraft, but it did demonstrate the feasibility of the turbojet concept. The modern turbojet engine used today in many British and American aircraft is based on the prototype that Whittle invented. Whittle was associated with the firm Power Jets Ltd., which received a contract for a Whittle engine known as the W1 on July 7, 1939. This engine was intended to power a small experimental aircraft. In February of 1940, the Gloster Aircraft Company was chosen to develop the aircraft to be powered by the W1 engine known as the Pioneer.

The historic first flight of the Pioneer took place on May 15, 1941, with Flight Lieutenant P. E. G. Sayer as pilot. Born: June 1, 1907, Coventry, Warwickshire, England Died: Aug. 8, 1996, Columbia, Md., U.S. Doctor Hans Von Ohain was a German airplane designer who invented an operational jet engine. Hans Von Ohain obtained his doctorate in Physics at the University of Göttingen in Germany and then became the junior assistant to Hugo Von Pohl, director of the Physical Institute at the University. German aircraft builder Ernst Heinkel asked the university for assistance in new airplane propulsion designs and Pohl recommended his star pupil. At the time, Von Ohain was investigating a new type of aircraft engine that did not require a propeller. Only twenty-two years old when he first conceived the idea of a continuous cycle combustion engine in 1933, Von Ohain patented a jet propulsion engine design in 1934 that was similar in concept to that of Sir Frank Whittle but different in internal arrangement.

Von Ohain joined Ernst Heinkel in 1936 and continued with the development of his jet propulsion concepts. He successfully bench tested of one of his engines in September 1937 and a small aircraft was designed and constructed by Ernst Heinkel to serve as a test bed for a new type of propulsion system known as the Heinkel He178. The Heinkel He178 flew for the first time on August 27, 1939. The pilot on this historic first flight of a jet-powered airplane was Flight Captain Erich Warsitz. Von Ohain developed a second improved jet engine know as the He S.8A, which was first flown on April 2, 1941. Born: Dec. 14, 1911 , Dessau, Germany Died: March 13, 1998, Melbourne, Fla., U.S. Jet Engines Jet Planes and World War II The Development of Jet Engines During The War Before World War II, in 1939, jet engines primarily existed in labs. The end of the war, however, illustrated that jet engines, with their great power and compactness, were at the forefront of aviation development.

A young German physicist, Hans von Ohain, worked for Ernst Heinkel, specializing in advanced engines, to develop the world's first jet plane, the experimental Heinkel He 178. It first flew on August 27, 1939. Building on this advancement, German engine designer Anselm Franz developed an engine suitable for use in a jet fighter. This airplane, the Me 262, was built by Messerschmitt. Though the only jet fighter to fly in combat during World War II, the Me 262 spent a significant amount of time on the ground due to its high consumption of fuel. It was often described as a sitting duck for Allied attacks. Meanwhile, in England, Frank Whittle invented a jet engine completely on his own. The British thus developed a successful engine for another early jet fighterthe Gloster Meteor. Britain used it for homeland defense but, due to lack of speed, it was not used to combat over Germany. The British shared Whittle's technology with the U.S., allowing General Electric (GE) to build jet engines for America's first jet fighter, the Bell XP-59.

The British continued to develop new jet engines from Whittle's designs, with Rolls-Royce initiating work on the Nene engine during 1944. The company sold Nenes to the Sovietsa Soviet version of the engine, in fact, powered the MiG-15 jet fighter that later fought U.S. fighters and bombers during the Korean War. The 1945 surrender of Germany revealed substantial wartime discoveries and inventions. General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, another American engine-builder, added German lessons to those of Whittle and other British designers. Early jet engines, such as those of the Me 262, gulped fuel rapidly. Thus, an initial challenge was posed: to build an engine that could provide high thrust with less fuel consumption. Pratt & Whitney resolved this dilemma in 1948 by combining two engines into one. The engine included two compressors; each rotated independently, the inner one giving high compression for good performance. Each compressor drew power from its own turbine; hence there were two turbines, one behind the other. This approach led to the J-57 engine. Commercial airlinersthe Boeing 707, the Douglas DC-8flew with it.

One of the prominent postwar engines, it entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1953. The Man Behind The Engine Hans von Ohain Hans von Ohain of Germany was the designer of the first operational jet engine, though credit for the invention of the jet engine went to Great Britain's Frank Whittle. Whittle, who registered a patent for the turbojet engine in 1930, received that recognition but did not perform a flight test until 1941. Ohain was born December 14, 1911, in Dessau, Germany. While pursuing doctorate work at the University of Gottingen, he forumulated his theory of jet propulsion in 1933. After receiving his degree in 1935, he became a junior assistant to Robert Wichard Pohl, director of the university's Physical Institute. Granted a patent for his turbojet engine in 1936, Ohain joined the Heinkel Company in Rostock, Germany. By 1937 he had built a factory-tested demonstration engine and, by 1939, a fully operational jet aircraft, the He 178.

Soon after, Ohain directed the construction of the He S.3B, the first fully operational centrifugal-flow turbojet engine. This engine was installed in the He 178 airplane, which made the world's first jet-powered aircraft flight on August 27, 1939. Ohain developed an improved engine, the He S.8A, which was first flown on April 2, 1941. This engine design, however, was less efficient than one designed by Anselm Franz, which powered the Me 262, the first operational jet fighter aircraft. Ohain came to the United States in 1947 and became a research scientist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,the Aerospace Research Laboratories, Wright's Aero Propulsion Laboratory, and the University of Dayton Research Institute. During his 32 years of U.S. government service, Ohain published more than 30 technical papers and registered 19 U.S. patents. In 1991 Ohain was honored by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering with the Charles Stark Draper Prize as a pioneer of the jet age.

Ohain died on March 13, 1998, at his home in Melbourne, Florida. The Heinkel He 178 was the world's first jet plane. 16-03-2004 A genius betrayed: The man who invented the jet engine ignored by his country | Daily Mail Online A genius betrayed: The man who invented the jet engine ignored by his country By ROBERT HARDMAN Last updated at 23:49 07 December 2007 He was a giant of the 20th century - and we enjoy the fruits of his genius to this day. Here was a young man, who started life with few advantages beyond a loving family and a good brain. Having battled his way past social, academic and financial obstacles, he succeeded in creating something which changed the world - and shrank it too. So, 100 years on from his birth, how does a proud and grateful nation honour his memory? Well, apart from unveiling a new statue near his Coventry birthplace earlier this year, Britain has shown a staggering reluctance to celebrate the centenary of Sir Frank Whittle, the man who invented the jet engine. Scroll down for more... A stamp?

A bank note? Forget it. Other countries might have named a city - or at the very least an international airport - after a native son who had left such a profound mark on the world. Across Britain, however, Sir Frank is remembered by a ring road in Derby, a couple of roundabouts, six side streets and a university laboratory. There used to be a pub called The Jet And Whittle in Leamington Spa (where he grew up) but then someone decided to drop the Whittle. It is not as if the Government is allergic to retrospection. All year, ministers have been falling over themselves to mark 200 years of the abolition of slavery. Our broadcasters have happily devoted hours of airtime to celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act which legalised homosexuality. Other big events, though, have been strangely overlooked. Were you aware, for example, that this year has been the 300th anniversary of a moderately interesting moment in our history: the creation of Great Britain? Aside from a £2 coin and a drinks party in January, the Government has managed to gloss over the Act of Union of 1707 and the birth of this country.

The merger of England and Scotland, of course, does carry with it a certain amount of baggage. Gordon Brown and his colleagues can hardly celebrate 300 years of a Union which they have dragged to the brink of divorce. But what is wrong with poor Sir Frank? The man was a working-class hero who could have spared us the Battle of Britain and the Blitz if the British Establishment had been quicker to listen to him. As his centenary year draws to a close, the only memento which I can find is a commemorative DVD, Whittle - The Jet Pioneer, by quantafilms.com. It's an engaging portrait of a great life, featuring a lengthy interview with the man himself not long before his death in 1996. And it is quite a story, not that many people are likely to hear it any more. The son of a toolmaker, Whittle had an early fascination with flight. His childhood heroes were the dashing aces of the early Royal Flying Corps and he went straight from school to the Royal Air Force's apprentice school at RAF Cranwell. He made such a mark that he was one of a handful picked out for the officer training college next door where he continued to excel as a pilot and an engineer.

When not flying, he wrote a thesis on future developments in aircraft design in which he argued that if man was going to fly faster, he would have to fly at a greater altitude where the air was thinner. Whittle concluded that the conventional propeller would never be sufficient and that an entirely new sort of engine would be required. His arguments were so advanced that he was awarded 30 out of 30 for his work - even though the professor who marked it admitted that he did not really understand it. His thesis had raised a very important question. A year later, he had a brainwave which provided the answer. Everyone was still wondering how a conventional piston engine could make a conventional propeller go round and round more quickly. Whittle realised that you did not need the piston engine or the propeller at all. Instead, you could use a gas turbine which would blast air out of a high-powered exhaust pipe at the back. It would be faster than anything in existence. It was his 'Eureka' moment. "It came out of the blue," he recalled. He had, effectively, dreamed up the turbojet - the early jet engine.

But when the young RAF officer took his idea to the Air Ministry later in 1929, they were not sure what to make of it. They ran it past a senior boffin called A.A. Griffith who had already done some work on the subject. Whether he was misguided or simply disliked this young pup in uniform, Griffith gave the idea a thumbs down. As a result, the Air Ministry rejected Whittle's design as impractical and carried on ordering traditional planes with propellers. So Whittle took out a patent to protect his turbojet idea which was duly published by the Patent Office. Others saw its merits, however, and German diplomats in London wasted no time ordering copies of the patent. When the patent expired in 1935, Whittle could not even afford the £5 renewal fee. Meanwhile, according to German prisoners interrogated after World War II, Whittle's plans were being circulated around Germany. The secret of an invention which might have stopped the war was well and truly out. The RAF remained supportive of their young genius, however, financing Whittle through Cambridge where, needless to say, he took a First Class degree in Mechanical Sciences.

All the while, he was still designing the jet engine he knew would work. Finally, two friends helped him secure enough backing to start a company called Power Jets Ltd, and in April 1937 he fired up an experimental jet engine for the first time. In 1941, a Gloster E28 plane took off with a Whittle jet engine inside it - 12 years after he had first had the idea. Britain had taken the lead in what would be known as the jet age. Whittle had been proved right all along. Production of his jet engine could finally begin. By then, however, the Nazis - equipped with Whittle's original patent - had already beaten him into the air. In 1939, a German engineer called Hans von Ohain had built the first jet plane to take to the sky. It was unreliable and could travel for only six minutes, but history had been made. Back in Britain, industry could see the commercial merits of Whittle's vision and there was no shortage of scheming and incompetence, notably by his supposed business "partners" at Rover. They were supposed to be manufacturing his new engines. In fact, they wanted to pinch his know-how.

Eventually, Rover was dumped in favour of Rolls-Royce - still the world leader in jet engines - but the dithering meant that Whittle's jet would not actually be of any great use until the war was over. Until 1944, Whittle had worked in secret. But the Government was looking for public heroes and Whittle was suddenly outed as a national treasure whose secret weapon would help win the war. The reality was that he had been obstructed all the way. And then the Government nationalised Power Jets in 1944. Whittle was still making great advances and was working on the world's first supersonic plane. But, once again, Whitehall was not interested in pursuing his idea. With America now in the war and providing crucial men and matÈriel, Britain was providing scientific know-how in return. All Whittle's research was handed over to the Americans and Britain's early lead in what would become one of the great post-war industries was simply surrendered. Suffering from nervous exhaustion, Whittle retired from the RAF in 1948.

He left with the consolation of a knighthood and a tax-free thank-you of £100,000, before embarking on a career as a consultant to the new jet industry which he himself had created. Years later, the Queen would honour him personally by elevating him to the ranks of the Order of Merit, of which he was extremely proud. But there has always been a sense of that classic British tragedy - the brilliant inventor done down in his own land. "Dad was incredibly patriotic and loved any opportunity to jump into his RAF uniform," says his son, Ian Whittle, 73, himself a former RAF fighter pilot who went on to fly Cathay Pacific jumbo jets. "He certainly never grumbled about his financial situation. But he was in no doubt that if Britain had researched his turbojet idea properly in 1929, its viability would have been recognised and we'd have had a jet fighter in time for the Battle of Britain." History is littered with what-ifs, of course. We will never know what a Whittle-powered jet Spitfire could have achieved in 1939. But it is safe to say that the Luftwaffe would probably not have picked a fight with it.

Today, Ian Whittle's primary concern is to protect his father's memory from continued erosion. "It is now an accepted fact in America that my father did not invent the jet, but that he and von Ohain - who became an American citizen - co-invented it at the same time," he says. "Pretty soon, history will be rewritten to say that it was a German or American invention." Certainly, many engineering institutions now routinely describe von Ohain as one of the "inventors" of the jet. So would the Germans have flown that first jet if they hadn't pinched young Whittle's plans? "Certainly not. It was Frank's invention and they just copied him," says one of the greatest test pilots in aviation history, Captain Eric Brown, late of the Fleet Air Arm. He should know. Not only has he flown more planes than anyone - 487 different types - but he was sent to Germany straight after the war to get hold of all the Nazis' aviation technology. "I interrogated von Ohain, who was very ambivalent about where he had got his ideas," says Capt Brown from his Sussex home. 'But his sidekick was utterly straight-forward about it.

He said that Whittle's patent had been in every technical library in Germany even before the war. "I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that Frank Whittle was the real inventor of the jet engine and that he could have produced a jet fighter by 1937 if the Establishment had been on his side." A few die-hard supporters still do their best to preserve Whittle's memory. Gerald Howarth, Tory MP for Aldershot and a keen flyer, staged a small week-long exhibition in Parliament earlier this year to mark Sir Frank's centenary. "Modern society isn't interested in brilliant men who muck about with oil and spanners and create great things which allow the rest of us to jet around the world," he says. "Today, we worship celebrities. But it is vital that our children know who Frank Whittle was, where he came from and what he did." I suspect most of them do not have a clue. And it is hardly surprising, I reflect, as I wander through London's Science Museum. Up in the flight section on the third floor, a group of schoolboys charge past in search of something interactive and fun. None of them pauses to look at a steel contraption on a rack. Why should they?

It looks likes something you might find in the corner of a scrapyard. A small label says it was the "first British turbojet" and that it was first tested in 1937. There is nothing to single it out as Whittle's original engine, nothing to say that this is the Stephenson's Rocket of jet aviation. Indeed, there is little to distinguish it out from all the other British, German and American engines parked down the side of this wall. An information panel next to it says that an RAF officer called Frank Whittle made an "imaginative leap" in the use of the gas turbine and went on to produce the first British jet engine. The panel concludes that it was Nazi Germany which produced the "first jet aircraft to enter service". So, there we have it. The man who invented the jet engine is not even credited in his own homeland. Oh well. At least he's got his ring road in Derby. History of Jet Engines - Hans Von Ohain Next Page The most important part of a jet is the engine. As such, jet history closely follows the engine development. It is important to give credit were credit is due. Hence the names of the key engine inventor and aircraft designer is included.

The first jet aircraft to fly was the Heinkel He 178 powered by the He S3B jet engine shown below. As other engines, such as the Jumo 004, were developed, new jets such as the Me 262 followed. Dr. Hans-Joachim Pabst von Ohain, "father of the gas turbine engine," beside his He S 3A jet engine which he invented, developed and successfully tested in 1936.1 He and Dr. Herbert Wagner are the father's of the jet engine. At about the same time, Frank Whittle in England also worked on a gas turbine engine but his engine did not run until 1937 at Power Jets. The He 178, using the He S3B engine, made its maiden flight on 27 August 1939. In subsequent tests it reached 400 mph. It was without a doubt the world's first jet aircraft. It's designers were Dr.

Hertel, Siegfried Gï¿½nter (later designed MiG 15 in Russia), Karl Schwaerzler.1, 4 In comparison, the first British jet, the Gloster E.28/39 powered by a Whittle engine first flew almost two years later in 1941. Only two Gloster's were built and one crashed supposedly because of icing? The real cause may never be determined. However, the fist one accumulated 25 hrs of bench testing and ten hrs of flight. The first US jet was the Bell XP-59A which made its maiden flight in October of 1942. It maximum speed was 380 mph. Because of its low performance and high fuel burn, it was a big disappointment. See Ed Heinemann by Heinemann and Rausa. Available from Scientists and Friends. The He 178 first flight in 1939 Prof. Dr. Herbert Wagner started the design of the world's first axial gas turbine at Junkers, Magdeburg in 1935. He was in charge of advanced developments at Junkers until 1939. Then a fellow Austrian, Dr. Ing.

Anselm Franz, also a graduate from the University of Graz, continued its development which during the war years led to the Jumo 004 axial gas turbine engine. Wagner is also the father of the turboprop engine which he patented in 1935. See British Patent No. 495 469. Sketch shown below.2 The first axial gas turbine engine designed by H. Wagner. Drawing of German Patent 724091 of 1942 is shown below. This engine was further developed into the Jumo 004 engine under the direction of Dr. Anselm Franz at Junkers Motorenbau (Jumo).1 The axial gas turbine engine was a big improvement over the centrifugal compressor turbine engine such as the von Ohain or the Whittle engines. All large jet engines today are axial gas turbine engines. Dr. Ing. Anselm Franz, director of the gas turbine engine development at Junkers in Germany from 1940 to 1945 came to the US with Operation "Paperclip" in 1946 and became vice president and assistant general director at AVCO Corp.

Lycoming Division in Connecticut were he continued his management efforts developing gas turbine engines. Most of the Lycoming gas turbine engines were designed by Franz and his team of engineers. Over 7,900 Jumo 004 engines were built at Junkers from 1943 to 1945. The engine produced 2,000 lbs of thrust and it was the first engine to be fitted with an afterburner.1 The Junkers Aircraft and Motor Co., on the right, employed over 147,000 workers; 52,880 on aircraft engines and 91,000 on aircraft. After the war, the complete company was dismantled and taken to Russia as war bounty and rebuilt exactly as it stood in Leipzig.3 All design offices were set up and the blue prints of the German jet and rocket aircraft were stored so that when the German "Specialists" arrived on October 1946, they could work on the new Russian "Wunder" jets such as the MiG 15.4 The Jet Engine - History Learning Site The Jet Engine Citation: C N Trueman "The Jet Engine" historylearningsite.co.uk.

The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. The Jet Engine Sir Frank Whittle’s jet engine transformed travel. The jet engine has allowed millions of people now to do something that was barely thinkable just 70 years ago – crossing the Atlantic at speed. The Wright’s may have invented the first real aeroplane, but the credit for the invention of the jet engine goes to Sir Frank Whittle. In the 1920’s, a young RAF man, Frank Whittle, had presented to the Air Ministry a design for a jet engine. They were unimpressed and rejected his idea. Regardless of this set-back, Whittle still patented his “turbojet engine” in 1930. His design appeared to solve the problem that had baffled inventors for some years – how do you create a chamber strong enough to house an engine that would create a lot of heat and vast directed thrust ? Many combustion chambers had simply been too weak to cope and had exploded under the strain.

Whittle’s engine had ten combustion chambers which produced impressive thrust : rather than having just one large chamber which would produce a volatile and potentially uncontrollable reaction, his engine effectively divided up the combustion created into the ten chambers but still did not decrease the power of the engines. Increasing fears about problems in Europe, lead to the government having second thoughts about Whittle’s jet engine. In 1936, he went to Cambridge University, but he left and set up a company called Power Jets Ltd. In 1937, using newly available alloys that were strong and light, he produced the first viable jet engine to be successfully tested in a laboratory. Now it had to be put onto a plane and the respective safety measures taken – as with all new planes. Sir Frank Whittle in front of one of his jet engines In 1941, a new jet fighter-prototype flew. Its successor, the Gloster Meteor, entered service with the RAF in 1944. However, the Gloster Meteor was not the first jet fighter. This claim goes to the Heinkel He 178 which first flew on August 24th 1939 – just days before World War Two started.

When the war finished, it seemed a logical move to apply this new invention to passenger planes. Journeys became quicker and the more powerful jet engine allowed passenger planes to get bigger so that more people could be carried on them. The first proper jet engined passenger airliner is considered to be the De Haviland Comet. This came into operation in a blaze of publicity. Within two years, it was withdrawn from service after a series of tragic accidents which killed many. This, however, was not due to its jet engines but to a fault in its fuselage which lead to the pane breaking up in flight. Boeing then took over the lead in jet-powered airliners. The Boeing 707 entered service in 1958. It was safe and allowed people to travel distances at speeds that would had been impossible just 10 years earlier. Whittle’s invention has transformed the world.

Sir Frank Whittle | British inventor and aviator | Britannica.com British inventor and aviator Sir Frank Whittle, (born June 1, 1907, Coventry , Warwickshire, England —died August 8, 1996, Columbia , Maryland , U.S.), English aviation engineer and pilot who invented the jet engine . Frank Whittle. Camera Press/Globe Photos The son of a mechanic, Whittle entered the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a boy apprentice and soon qualified as a pilot at the RAF College in Cranwell. He was posted to a fighter squadron in 1928 and served as a test pilot in 1931–32. He then pursued further studies at the RAF engineering school and at the University of Cambridge (1934–37). Early in his career Whittle recognized the potential demand for an aircraft that would be able to fly at great speed and height, and he first put forth his vision of jet propulsion in 1928, in his senior thesis at the RAF College. The young officer’s ideas were ridiculed by the Air Ministry as impractical, however, and attracted support from neither the government nor private industry.

Whittle obtained his first patent for a turbo-jet engine in 1930, and in 1936 he joined with associates to found a company called Power Jets Ltd. He tested his first jet engine on the ground in 1937. This event is customarily regarded as the invention of the jet engine, but the first operational jet engine was designed in Germany by Hans Pabst von Ohain and powered the first jet-aircraft flight on August 27, 1939. The outbreak of World War II finally spurred the British government into supporting Whittle’s development work. A jet engine of his invention was fitted to a specially built Gloster E.28/39 airframe, and the plane’s maiden flight took place on May 15, 1941. The British government took over Power Jets Ltd. in 1944, by which time Britain’s Gloster Meteor jet aircraft were in service with the RAF, intercepting German V-1 rockets. Whittle retired from the RAF in 1948 with the rank of air commodore, and that same year he was knighted.

The British government eventually atoned for their earlier neglect by granting him a tax-free gift of £100,000. He was awarded the Order of Merit in 1986. In 1977 he became a research professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. His book Jet: The Story of a Pioneer was published in 1953. Learn More in these related articles: History of the Jet Engine - Who Invented the Jet Engine? By Mary Bellis Updated August 29, 2016. Dr. Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle are both recognized as being the co-inventors of the jet engine. However, each worked separately and knew nothing of the other's work. Hans von Ohain is considered the designer of the first operational turbojet engine while Frank Whittle was the first to register a patent for the turbojet engine in 1930. Though Hans von Ohain was granted a patent for his turbojet engine in 1936, it was Ohain's jet that was the first to fly in 1939.

It was't until 1941 that Whittle's jet first flew. Sir Frank Whittle was an English aviation engineer and pilot. The son of a mechanic, Frank Whittle joined the Royal Air Force as an apprentice. He joined a fighter squadron in 1928 and became a test pilot in 1931. The young officer was only 22 when he first thought to use a gas turbine engine to power an airplane. While often regarded as the father of modern jet propulsion systems, Whittle tried unsuccessfully to obtain official support for study and development of his ideas. continue reading below our video Profile of the Wright Brothers He had to pursue his research on his own initiative and received his first patent on turbojet propulsion in January 1930. With private financial support, he began construction of his first engine in 1935. This engine, which had a single-stage centrifugal compressor coupled to a single-stage turbine, was successfully bench tested in April 1937. It was only a laboratory test rig that was never intended for use in an aircraft, but it did demonstrate the feasibility of the turbojet concept.

The modern turbojet engine used today in many British and American aircraft is based on the prototype that Whittle invented. Whittle was associated with the firm Power Jets Ltd., which received a contract for a Whittle engine known as the W1 on July 7, 1939. This engine was intended to power a small experimental aircraft. In February of 1940, the Gloster Aircraft Company was chosen to develop the aircraft to be powered by the W1 engine known as the Pioneer. The historic first flight of the Pioneer took place on May 15, 1941, with Flight Lieutenant P. E. G. Sayer as pilot. Born: June 1, 1907, Coventry, Warwickshire, England Died: Aug. 8, 1996, Columbia, Md., U.S. Doctor Hans Von Ohain was a German airplane designer who invented an operational jet engine. Hans Von Ohain obtained his doctorate in Physics at the University of Göttingen in Germany and then became the junior assistant to Hugo Von Pohl, director of the Physical Institute at the University.

German aircraft builder Ernst Heinkel asked the university for assistance in new airplane propulsion designs and Pohl recommended his star pupil. At the time, Von Ohain was investigating a new type of aircraft engine that did not require a propeller. Only twenty-two years old when he first conceived the idea of a continuous cycle combustion engine in 1933, Von Ohain patented a jet propulsion engine design in 1934 that was similar in concept to that of Sir Frank Whittle but different in internal arrangement. Von Ohain joined Ernst Heinkel in 1936 and continued with the development of his jet propulsion concepts. He successfully bench tested of one of his engines in September 1937 and a small aircraft was designed and constructed by Ernst Heinkel to serve as a test bed for a new type of propulsion system known as the Heinkel He178. The Heinkel He178 flew for the first time on August 27, 1939. The pilot on this historic first flight of a jet-powered airplane was Flight Captain Erich Warsitz.

Von Ohain developed a second improved jet engine know as the He S.8A, which was first flown on April 2, 1941. Born: Dec. 14, 1911 , Dessau, Germany Died: March 13, 1998, Melbourne, Fla., U.S. BBC - History - Frank Whittle z Sir Frank Whittle © Whittle was a Royal Air Force officer who made a major contribution to the invention of the jet engine Frank Whittle was born on 1 June 1907 in Coventry, the son of a mechanic. His first attempts to join the RAF failed as a result of his lack of height, but on his third attempt he was accepted as an apprentice in 1923. He qualified as a pilot officer in 1928. As a cadet Whittle had written a thesis arguing that planes would need to fly at high altitudes, where air resistance is much lower, in order to achieve long ranges and high speeds. Piston engines and propellers were unsuitable for this purpose, so he concluded that rocket propulsion or gas turbines driving propellers would be required. Jet propulsion was not in his thinking at this stage.

By October 1929, Whittle had considered using a fan enclosed in the fuselage to generate a fast flow of air to propel a plane at high altitude. A piston engine would use too much fuel, so he thought of using a gas turbine. After the Air Ministry turned him down, he patented the idea himself. In 1935, Whittle secured financial backing and, with Royal Air Force approval, Power Jets Ltd was formed. They began constructing a test engine in July 1936, but it proved inconclusive. Whittle concluded that a complete rebuild was required, but lacked the necessary finances. Protracted negotiations with the Air Ministry followed and the project was secured in 1940. By April 1941, the engine was ready for tests. The first flight was made on 15 May 1941. By October the United States had heard of the project and asked for the details and an engine. A Power Jets team and the engine were flown to Washington to enable General Electric to examine it and begin construction.

The Americans worked quickly and their XP-59A Airacomet was airborne in October 1942, some time before the British Meteor, which became operational in 1944. The jet engine proved to be a winner, particularly in America where the technology was enthusiastically embraced. Whittle retired from the RAF in 1948 with the rank of air commodore. He was knighted in the same year and went to work in the US shortly afterwards, becoming a research professor at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. Whittle died on 9 August 1996. The History of the Jet Engine - Sir Frank Whittle - Hans Von Ohain By Mary Bellis Dr. Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle are both recognized as being the co-inventors of the jet engine. Each worked separately and knew nothing of the other's work. Hans von Ohain is considered the designer of the first operational turbojet engine. Frank Whittle was the first to register a patent for the turbojet engine in 1930. Hans von Ohain was granted a patent for his turbojet engine in 1936.

However, Hans von Ohain's jet was the first to fly in 1939. Frank Whittle's jet first flew in in 1941. Sir Frank Whittle was an English aviation engineer and pilot, the son of a mechanic, Frank Whittle joined the Royal Air Force or RAF as an apprentice. He joined an RAF fighter squadron in 1928 and became a test pilot in 1931. The young RAF officer was only 22 when he first thought to use a gas turbine engine to power an airplane. While often regarded as the father of modern jet propulsion systems, the young Frank Whittle tried without success to obtain official support for study and development of his ideas. He had to persist his research on his own initiative and received his first patent on turbojet propulsion in January 1930. With private financial support, he began construction of his first engine in 1935. This engine, which had a single-stage centrifugal compressor coupled to a single-stage turbine, was successfully bench tested in April 1937; it was only a laboratory test rig, never intended for use in an aircraft, but it did demonstrate the feasibility of the turbojet concept.

The modern turbojet engine used in many British and American aircraft is based on the prototype that Frank Whittle invented. The firm of Power Jets Ltd., with which Whittle was associated, received a contract for a Whittle engine, known as the W1, on July 7, 1939. This engine was intended to power a small experimental aircraft. In February 1940, the Gloster Aircraft Company was chosen to develop the aircraft to be powered by the W1 engine - the Pioneer. The historic first flight of the Pioneer took place on May 15, 1941, with Flight Lieutenant P. E. G. Sayer as pilot. born: June 1, 1907, Coventry, Warwickshire, England died: Aug. 8, 1996, Columbia, Md., U.S. Doctor Hans Von Ohain was a German airplane designer who invented an operational jet engine. Hans Von Ohain obtained his doctorate in Physics at the University of Göttingen in Germany and then became the junior assistant to Hugo Von Pohl, director of the Physical Institute at the University.

German aircraft builder, Ernst Heinkel asked the university for assistance in new airplane propulsion designs and Pohl recommended his star pupil. Hans Von Ohain, was investigating a new type of aircraft engine that did not require a propeller. Only twenty-two years old when he first conceived the idea of a continuous cycle combustion engine in 1933, Hans Von Ohain patented a jet propulsion engine design similar in concept to that of Sir Frank Whittle but different in internal arrangement in 1934. Hans Von Ohain joined Ernst Heinkel in 1936 and continued with the development of his concepts of jet propulsion. A successful bench test of one of his engines was accomplished in September 1937. A small aircraft was designed and constructed by Ernst Heinkel to serve as a test bed for the new type of propulsion system - the Heinkel He178. The Heinkel He178 flew for the first time on August 27, 1939. The pilot on this historic first flight of a jet-powered airplane was Flight Captain Erich Warsitz.

Hans Von Ohain developed a second improved jet engine, the He S.8A, which was first flown on April 2, 1941. born: Dec. 14, 1911 , Dessau, Germany died: March 13, 1998, Melbourne, Fla., U.S. Frank Whittle: Jet engine inventor is genius who shrank the globe | Daily Mail Online comments Jet engine pioneer: Sir Frank Whittle who revolutionised air travel There are a handful of moments that can truly be said to have changed not just the course of history, but also the way we live. One was when Alexander Graham Bell spoke down an electrified wire in 1876 and the telephone was born. Another was the day in 1825 when George Stephenson fired up his new steam locomotive and created the modern railway. And a third was an early evening in the darkest days of World War II when a young RAF officer from Coventry watched as 12 years of hard work came to fruition and his aptly-named ‘Pioneer’ thundered into the sky. In the heavily-guarded secrecy of a Lincolnshire airbase, Frank Whittle had just invented jet travel.

The history of modern flight falls into two phases. The first began on the day the Wright Brothers made the first controlled, powered flight in 1903. And the second started in the Lincolnshire twilight on May 15, 1941. Thanks to Frank Whittle, the world has shrunk. We have all become travellers. We are all the beneficiaries of this modest Warwickshire genius who took on the aviation establishment and changed the world that day. As Churchill noted at the time: ‘Get me a thousand Whittles.’ But, for some reason, we appear to have forgotten this remarkable man and his awesome achievement. Our sense of historical perspective is now so muddled that we are happy to celebrate outbreaks of civil violence, or the achievements of other countries, yet remain oblivious to our own success. Our politicians have dutifully paid homage to the 30th anniversary of the Brixton riots — or ‘uprising’, as we must now call them. Elsewhere in London, the (taxpayer-funded) British Council is making a great fuss of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space mission.

Not only is it holding an exhibition dedicated to the Soviet cosmonaut at its headquarters, but it is about to erect a statue of him in the Mall. From July 14, you’ll find him next to Captain Cook, the Yorkshireman who discovered Australia. But don’t bother looking around for Sir Frank Whittle. You’ll have to go to his native Coventry to see him in bronze. King of the skies: An early Gloster Meteor fighter plane - Britain's first fighter jet that used the engine invented by Whittle in April 1937 And how is Britain marking the 70th anniversary of the first proper jet flight in history? It will be marked by an invitation-only reception and buffet at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire, the place where it happened. No top brass, no royalty, no ministers. The guests will be local dignitaries, devoted boffins and the last two surviving witnesses of the moment that Whittle’s dream became a reality. Later on, there may be a flypast by two old Meteor jet fighters courtesy of a private company which owns them. The RAF says it is so stretched that it cannot spare any aircraft that day.

And neither British Airways nor Virgin nor British Aerospace nor any of the other corporate giants that have built their names and fortunes on the back of Whittle’s ingenuity will be attending. The only big name will be Rolls-Royce, which is sending along a couple of old engines in display cases for perusal on the ground. Now, imagine if, say, France had created the jet engine. How do you think the French would mark the 70th anniversary of the day they invented the Jet Age? I can tell you how. They would shut down the Champs Elysees, have a huge party and organise a presidential parade of everyone past and present connected with the jet. To cap it all, they would have a spectacular flypast of every aircraft in the book. The French revere the memory of Louis Bleriot (first over the Channel) and the Montgolfier brothers (balloons). How they must wish they had a Whittle. And what would the Americans do? Marching bands, commemorative stamps, a White House do . . . Britain should be ashamed of itself. Aviation is one of the few big industries in which we remain a world leader (and which still employs hundreds of thousands of people).

We have played a crucial part in its evolution. So why are we so unexcited by one of the most phenomenal success stories of the 20th century — a British one to boot? Masterpiece: Whittle, aged 40, stands proudly in 1948 next to a model of a prototype jet engine which he invented at Brownsover Hall, Rugby I really don’t think it’s a case of a snub. It’s sadder than that. It’s partly institutional amnesia. The modern political and media establishments are always alert to fashionable, politically correct causes like the Brixton 30th anniversary, or the 40th anniversary of the student protests of 1968 or anything with an element of controversy and apology (slavery, potato famine etc). But an RAF boffin in an oily coat making real history? It’s just a bit, well, boring. Lord Tebbit, a former Tory Trade Secretary and ex-pilot, puts it another way: ‘Why expect the Government to be interested in Frank Whittle? He’s not modern.

He’s just a dead white man, isn’t he?’ The attitude is also reflective of the declining kudos of science and engineering in Britain. The number of pupils studying A-level Physics is now at an all-time low. Children don’t dream of inventing a brilliant concept like the jet engine any more. Instead, they dream of being a celebrity or of being very rich. The top scientific brains from our best universities are more likely to be snapped up by an investment bank than a laboratory. We have always been very good at producing great scientists and very bad at recognising them. But for how much longer will we even produce them? 'The RAF turned him down for being too small' In this year’s Budget Speech, George Osborne declared that Britain must ‘become a world leader in advanced manufacturing’. The Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts, has declared enthusiastic support for the Gagarin anniversary. But I have yet to hear a squeak about Sir Frank Whittle. To its credit, RAF Cranwell is inviting groups of science pupils from local schools and colleges to join in the festivities over the weekend. But the Frank Whittle story should be on every science curriculum in the land. Surely, here is the ultimate role model?

Frank Whittle had no great head start in life beyond a loving family and a thirst for knowledge. His father was a Coventry toolmaker who went on to buy a struggling business in Leamington Spa. Born in 1907, Whittle worshipped the flying aces of World War I and wanted to join the RAF. They turned him down for being too small — the first of a series of blunders by the aviation establishment — but he persisted and was finally accepted as an apprentice. Off he went to RAF Cranwell to learn his trade yet, as an apprentice, he could not expect to fly. However, his talents as a builder of model aircraft impressed a senior officer, who recommended Whittle for officer training. Even so, there were yet more obstacles to overcome, not least concerns among senior officers that young Whittle had shown no aptitude for sport. His instructors replied that they had unearthed a ‘mathematical genius’. That would be clear enough when Officer Cadet Whittle submitted his student thesis. He chose an impossibly ambitious subject, Future Developments In Aircraft Design, and tackled the eternal problem of how to get planes going higher and faster.

Breakthrough: The first stage in the evolution of flying began on the day the Wright Brothers made the first controlled, powered flight in 1903 Whittle calculated that it could only be done using a plane which had neither a propeller nor a piston engine. His Cranwell professor admitted that he did not understand a lot of it, but gave him 30 out of 30 regardless. The RAF had not just stumbled upon a genius. Whittle also proved to be one of the most talented pilots of his generation. Despite repeated reprimands for daredevil aerobatics, he joined the precursor to the modern Red Arrows and later went on to test new seaplane technology. At one point, this involved little more than being strapped into an old biplane and being catapulted into the sea off Felixstowe. Whittle took it all in his stride. All the while, he kept pressing on with his designs for an entirely new sort of aeroplane. Whittle had established that if planes were to fly longer distances at faster speeds, they would need to fly at higher altitudes, which wasn’t possible with the tried-and-tested piston engines.

And having diagnosed the limits of the piston engine, with its traditional propellor, he came up with an entirely new form of propulsion: a ‘turbojet’. In essence, it was a fan which sucked in air, compressed it, ignited it and then blasted it out with huge force — propelling the plane forward. He tried to persuade the Air Ministry to try it. But they took the advice of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough which was wedded to things with propellors. ‘Impracticable’ was the official verdict in 1929. 'The British Government thought the jet engine idea wasn't important enough to be kept secret' A year later, Whittle filed a patent for his jet idea. The British Government refused to exercise its right to keep the thing secret, on the grounds it wasn’t important enough. The Germans were not so naïve, and staff from their Embassy in London went straight to the Stationery Office and snapped up all the details. In the aftermath of World War II, copies of Whittle’s patents would be found in research labs all over Germany. In 1934, the RAF sent Whittle to Cambridge University to study Mechanical Sciences.

All the while, he was still working on his jet plans. ‘I very much wanted First Class honours, so I had to work like hell because I was designing the jet engine and preparing for my finals at the same time,’ Whittle told Nicholas Jones, the producer of the documentary Whittle — The Jet Pioneer. ‘And that was a very difficult thing to do.’ Difficult? In academic terms, it was Herculean. Yet Whittle managed both (he even did his three-year degree course in two years). While at Cambridge, he assembled enough backing to start up a company which would help him build the world’s first jet engine. The money was chickenfeed compared with the sums being spent in Germany, now fast re-arming and desperate to take the lead in this pioneering field. And it was a German designer, Hans von Ohain, who got the first jet-powered prototype off the ground in 1939. But it was more of a manned firework than a viable design.

Tinkering: An early illustration shows Frank Whittle with his prototype jet engine which he invented at Brownsover Hall, Rugby, and first ran in 1937 By May 15, 1941, however, Whittle’s engine was ready. Under conditions of the greatest secrecy, it was fitted to a custom-built Gloster E28 — known as the ‘Pioneer’ — and set off from RAF Cranwell. Among the handful of people to witness that moment was the great test pilot Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown (who has flown more planes than anyone else). ‘It had no propeller and an extraordinary whining noise,’ Brown told Nicholas Jones. ‘I was quite astonished to know what it was because I’d never heard, at this stage in my career, of a jet.’ Unlike von Ohain’s attempt, Whittle’s plane flew for 17 minutes before returning and then embarked on a series of very successful runs. It was not just viable. It was a winner. He had changed the world. Over the subsequent years, Whittle’s story was one of constant ingenuity thwarted by sluggish bureaucrats and devious businessmen.

He was hailed as a national hero at the same time that a cash-strapped government was handing his technology over to the Americans. He could — and should — have been a rich man but, unlike his business partners, he was not motivated by money. He received a knighthood for his troubles, but he wanted people who would help him turn his ideas into machines. And after Britain surrendered its commanding lead in the very jet industry which Whittle had created, it was hardly surprising when he ended up moving to America. 'He was not motivated by money' In 1986, the Queen awarded him the Order of Merit, her personal accolade for genius. And following his death in 1996, a memorial stone was unveiled in Westminster Abbey. Yet, to this day, much of the British scientific establishment treats him as a contributor to the evolution of the jet engine rather than its exalted creator. It was a German who got off the ground first, they say, not Whittle. The Wright Brothers were not the first people to get a plane in the air, but no one denies them the credit they deserve because they were the first to do it successfully. The same, surely, applies to Whittle?

‘British aviation innovations were supposed to come from the old Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, not a junior RAF officer. Whittle was an embarrassment because he left Farnborough standing,’ says Nicholas Jones. ‘They consistently undermined him and that Farnborough mindset persists to this day among some historians.’ It certainly annoys Sir Frank’s son. ‘It bothers me that even places like the RAF Museum at Hendon try to attribute the jet engine jointly to my father and to a German scientist who was a schoolboy when my father filed his patent,’ says Ian Whittle, himself a retired pilot. The Science Museum is even less generous, crediting Whittle with little more than an ‘imaginative leap’ in the development of the gas turbine. Certainly, when I ask the Science Museum what it has planned for the 70th anniversary of that epic flight, I get a shrug of the shoulders. Nothing is planned. What about Yuri Gagarin? Complete change of tune. ‘We’ve got a whole series of Gagarin events throughout the Easter holidays,’ says a spokesman excitedly. On top of that, the Royal Albert Hall is to stage a huge Gagarin exhibition in the summer.

Meanwhile, Hollywood has just produced an Oscar-winning film about the man who invented Facebook while at Harvard. What about the man who invented the jet engine while at Cambridge? No one wants to know. Now, I am certainly not downplaying the heroism and significance of the first man into orbit. It is absolutely right that half a century of space travel warrants a good show. But compare our zeal for honouring a Soviet cosmonaut with our steadfast reluctance to salute a man who invented jet travel in our own skies. One gets a statue in the Mall. The other gets a buffet in Lincolnshire. Sausage roll, anyone? Whittle — The Jet Pioneer is available on DVD from quantafilms.com

Question: Name the British inventor of the jet engine?
Answer: SIR FRANK WHITTLE