If you visit any major airport, it is hard to imagine a time when jet engines did not exist. But while flying thousands of miles around the world seems commonplace to most of us these days, none of this would have been possible if it had not been for the invention of the jet turbine engine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before this critical invention had established itself on the world stage, flying was slower and far more time-consuming when trying to get from A to B by air. While the development of piston-driven propeller engines had enabled aviation to take huge leaps forward in terms of how far and how fast airplanes could fly, there remained a widespread belief that the next major development of aircraft propulsion lay just around the corner. However, it would take money, ingenuity, and a pioneering spirit that would unlock that potential and see a jet-powered aircraft take to the skies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That pioneer would be Sir Frank Whittle, a pilot, engineer, inventor, and deep thinker, who would eventually take the leap of faith and take the jet turbine engine from being simply a concept in his imagination, to the drawing board, to being the default aviation powerplant of choice for decades to come.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the story of how an engineer\u2019s son from the heart of England became one of aviation\u2019s true pioneers. With a tenacious spirit and an aptitude for mechanical engineering, it is Sir Frank Whittle that we can all thank for being able to traverse the globe in a matter of hours, rather than days, in the modern age.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Frank Whittle was born in Coventry, located in the center of industrial England, on June 1, 1907. Born to a mechanic father, Whittle spent much of his childhood assisting in his father\u2019s company\u2019s workshop, working on mechanized tools and lathes to produce machine parts for other industries. Even at this point, Whittle displayed a keen interest in engineering, becoming an expert in his father\u2019s gas-powered tools and developing a keen interest in aviation on the side.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As he grew up, Whittle was known to spend much of his spare time at his local library, indulging his interests in aviation, astronomy, engineering, gas turbine engines, and the evolution of flight \u2013 all subjects that having an in-depth knowledge of would serve Whittle well as he got older. He also developed a keen interest in joining the Royal Air Force<\/a> (RAF) as his knowledge grew, and set his mind to joining up as soon as he was old enough.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n In January 1923, having passed the RAF entrance examinations with flying colors, Whittle was taken on initially as an aircraft mechanic. However, he had long held aspirations to fly and set his sights on becoming a pilot. However, being short of stature and frame, Whittle was rejected twice from air crew selection given his size. However, he later applied once more under a false name (an early display of his tenacity and ambition in action). On his third attempt in 1926, Whittle passed the medical and was accepted for flying officer training at the legendary RAF Cranwell training facility. This was an opportunity that Whittle was not going to pass up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whittle excelled in the RAF\u2019s basic flying course, taking his first solo flight (without an instructor onboard) after just 13.5 hours of flight training. He later progressed to flying the RAF\u2019s Bristol Freighter fleet, on which he developed something of a reputation for aerobatic flying and \u2018showboating\u2019, for which he found himself in trouble with his senior officers on more than one occasion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n During his time training, Whittle\u2019s course required each student to produce a thesis before they could graduate from RAF Cranwell. Whittle drew on what he knew best as his chosen subject, which was the development of flight to achieve much higher speeds and altitudes than were possible at the time. In his thesis paper, entitled \u2018Future Developments in Aircraft Design<\/em>,\u2019 Whittle demonstrated that even with further development, piston propeller aircraft would be unlikely to achieve airspeeds of over 500 mph (800 km\/h) in the future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n Instead, Whittle proposed in his paper a new invention which he termed a \u2018motorjet<\/em>\u2019 comprising an air compressor using a conventional piston engine to provide compressed air to a combustion chamber whose exhaust was used directly for thrust. While the concept had already been mooted by the aerospace industry, Whittle argued that his motorjet would work far more efficiently at higher altitudes, and using air of a lower density would increase overall efficiency as it provided less resistance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Whittle graduated from the Royal Air Force College in 1928 at the age of 21 and was commissioned as a pilot officer in the RAF, where he would later be described as an \u201cexceptional to above average\u201d pilot.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whittle continued working on the motorjet principle after his thesis was submitted. He concluded that by substituting the piston engine with a gas turbine, a thrust of much higher power could be achieved with the same basic setup. Instead of using a piston engine-driven compressor to provide the compressed air for the burner, a turbine could be used to extract further power from the exhaust and drive a compressor. The remaining exhaust thrust would provide the thrust for the aircraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n Continuing his RAF flying duties, Whittle was such an acclaimed pilot that he was soon selected to become an instructor. While posted to RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire in 1929, Whittle continued to promote his motorjet design concept to those in charge at the base. Whittle soon found a like-minded individual in Flying Officer Pat Johnson, a former patent examiner. Johnson, in turn, presented Whittle\u2019s concept to the commanding officer of the base.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Encouraged by the commanding officer to pursue his theories, in late 1929, Whittle sent his concept to the Air Ministry in London to see if it would be of any interest to the UK government. Whittle was subsequently invited to London to meet with an officer of the Ministry\u2019s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). However, following that meeting, Whittle received a letter stating that the Air Ministry remained unconvinced that Whittle\u2019s design could achieve the sort of efficiencies needed for a practical jet-powered engine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Finding various alleged faults in both Whittle\u2019s design and a single calculation, the Air Ministry conceded that \u201cthe internal combustion turbine will almost certainly be developed into a successful engine, but before this can be done, the performance of both compressors and turbines will have to be greatly improved. However, it has been of real interest to investigate your scheme, and any suggestion submitted by people in the Service is always welcome.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The decision to reject Whittle\u2019s design would eventually have huge ramifications for both Whittle and the UK government, as well as the rising tensions within Europe that would ultimately lead to World War Two.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Pat Johnson remained convinced of the validity of Whittle\u2019s design, leading to it being patented in January 1930. Whittle thereby fully retained the design rights to his engine, and subsequent meetings were held with various commercial organizations where interest in his design was raised, although no deals for funding were forthcoming by which it could be developed further.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Alongside his flight instruction duties, Whittle attended the RAF\u2019s Officers School of Engineering in 1932. Obtaining an average of 98% in all subjects in his entrance exam, this allowed Whittle to complete a shortened one-year course. Following the successful completion of this course, Whittle decided to take a two-year engineering course at Peterhouse College at the University of Cambridge in the UK, graduating in 1936 with a first-class degree in Mechanical Science. There remains a historic plaque commemorating Whittle\u2019s attendance outside the University\u2019s School of Engineering to this day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Upon his graduation from Cambridge, Whittle was granted a further year to develop his design by the RAF. However, without additional funding, Whittle was unable to renew the patent on his design, which duly lapsed, opening it up to others to potentially develop further, thereby presenting a risk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n However, through a string of serendipitous meetings with former RAF contacts, Whittle formed a partnership with two retired RAF servicemen, with Whittle retaining half of the shares of the new partnership. The plan was that the firm would be better placed to seek commercial funding for the Whittle design with some form of proper organizational setup behind it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Following a series of unsuccessful meetings to secure funding, the partnership eventually found favor with a specialist investment bank that had a leaning towards more risky ventures in September 1935. The bank agreed to fund the development of Whittle\u2019s design, and with that deal finalized, the future of the Whittle jet engine was secured, and the course of aviation history changed forever.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Through a three-way partnership negotiated between the investment bank, the Air Ministry, plus Whittle and his two partners, a new company by the name of Power Jets<\/em> was established. Whittle and the partners retained 49% while the bank invested an initial \u00a32,000 ($2,680) with the option of a further \u00a318,000 ($24,120) within 18 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Whittle was still a full-time RAF officer, he required special permission to work outside his RAF duties and was limited to dedicating just six hours a week to Power Jets. However, as Whittle had been allowed an additional year at Cambridge to continue post-graduate studies, this restriction had little practical effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the RAF continued its own jet engine development work alongside Power Jets, the others in the company set about building a prototype engine to demonstrate its viability and effectiveness. By the end of 1936, in a factory owned by the British company Thompson-Houston located near Coventry (Whittle\u2019s hometown), the prototype was almost ready for its first test run, which had also been produced well within the \u00a32,000 initial budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n By this stage, two leading German aerospace engineers (Herbert Wagner at Junkers and Hans von Ohain at Heinkel) had begun developing their own jet turbine engine. While for many years, it was suspected that the work in Germany had developed on the back of Whittle\u2019s patent being allowed to lapse, the Germans always denied this. The German Ministry of Aviation had been far more supportive of von Ohain\u2019s new design, unlike the RAF with Whittle\u2019s a few years earlier, and development of the first jet-powered airplane continued apace in that country while it lumbered on in the UK.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite further setbacks, including the RAF backing a rival jet engine design produced by someone who had been following Whittle\u2019s work with Power Jets closely, the company proceeded with its own development work, almost to the point of bankruptcy. In July 1937, the company was provided with an emergency loan of \u00a3250 by the bank to keep it in business. This would once again prove to be a turning point in the fortunes of Whittle and his engine design.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following a glowing report by one of Whittle\u2019s industry contacts that was sent to the Air Ministry, the latter decided to show more interest in the work being done by Whittle and invested a further \u00a35,000 ($6,700) into the research and development fund to produce a flyable version of Whittle\u2019s engine, by then known as the Power Jets WU (Whittle Unit).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout the late 1930s, work proceeded with the Power Jets WU, although by this stage, the Germans were far ahead in terms of their development. While the Germans had their own setbacks with developing a jet engine, they would eventually beat the UK into the air with the first jet-powered airplane, a Heinkel He 178, and later a Messerschmitt 262, by nine crucial months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Launched into Luftwaffe service towards the end of WW2, the Me 262 could fly significantly faster than its Allied counterparts, with far better firepower. Me 262s were credited with the downing of at least 542 Allied aircraft before the end of the war, leaving the RAF kicking themselves that they had not embraced and supported Whittle\u2019s initial design years previously.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Ultimately, the lack of funding for Whittle\u2019s project, along with a dithering lack of interest or support over many years displayed by the RAF had cost the UK a vital head start in the race to build a usable jet engine\u00a0 \u2013 issues that would all come back and bite the UK government as World War Two began in 1939.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eventually, despite further setbacks and many late nights, all of which adversely affected Whittle\u2019s mental health, Power Jets was able to refine its design far enough to produce a flyable engine to be embedded inside a Gloster Aircraft E28\/39 development testbed. The aircraft began taxi testing on April 7, 1941, at Brockworth Airfield in the west of England. Then, on May 15, 1941, the Whittle-powered E.28\/39 took off from RAF Cranwell, flying for 17\u202fminutes and reaching a maximum speed of around 340\u202fmph (545\u202fkm\/h).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Within days and after further test flights, the aircraft was flying at 370\u202fmph (600\u202fkm\/h) at 25,000\u202ffeet (7,600\u202fm), far outperforming the Supermarine Spitfire, the RAF\u2019s fastest aircraft at the time. With the performance of the aircraft and Whittle\u2019s engine design now proven, various other major British aerospace companies, including Rolls-Royce<\/a>, the British Aeroplane Company (BAC), and Hawker-Siddeley, all became interested in embracing the technology further.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout WW2, these companies developed jet-powered aircraft further. Whittle himself worked on more powerful examples of his design to give them greater application possibilities. The RAF commissioned the design of a new combat jet that would be powered by Whittle-designed engines in the form of the Gloster Meteor, although this type would barely make an impact in RAF service before the end of the war came in June 1945.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/747-w.jpg\" "\\"ModernCivilWide")
Background<\/h2>\n
Whittle enters the RAF\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Frank](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/SFW2.jpg.webp "\\"Frank")
<\/source><\/picture>Development of Whittle\u2019s design continues\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Frank](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/SFW.jpg.webp "\\"Frank")
<\/source><\/picture>![\"Frank](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/SFW-1-1200x900.jpg\" "\\"Frank")
The birth of Power Jets<\/h2>\n
![\"Frank](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/Frank_Whittle_CH_011867.jpg.webp "\\"Frank")
<\/source><\/picture>Germany enters the jet arena<\/h2>\n
![\"Whittle](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/WJE.jpg.webp "\\"Whittle")
<\/source><\/picture>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/Me-262_replica_landing.jpg.webp "\\"Me")
<\/source><\/picture>First flight\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Gloster](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/Gloster_E28-39_United_Kingdom_-_Royal_Air_Force_RAF_JP7168922.jpg.webp "\\"Gloster")
<\/source><\/picture>
![\"British](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2024\/12\/BA1-5.jpg.webp "\\"British")
<\/source><\/picture>![\"Rolls](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/RRD.jpg.webp "\\"NorwichNorfolkUk")
<\/source><\/picture>![\"Jet](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/05\/Jet1-32.jpg.webp "\\"Jet")
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