Posted on 05/16/2021 2:51:17 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
"Whittle's jet engine design was a paradigm shift from the piston engines that were used in aeroplanes until that point," he said.
"To understand a jet engine required a different understanding of aerodynamics and thermodynamics. A lot of very distinguished British engineers could not get their heads around that.
As Whittle and his young family stood outside their Warwickshire home to witness the November 1940 bombing raid on Coventry, he was in despair.
"He was born and bred Coventry," said Ian. "It was awful for my father.
On 15 May 1941, Whittle and a party of interested engineers and RAF colleagues assembled at RAF Cranwell where a short, cigar-shaped plane - known as the "Squirt" - the Gloster E.28/39 - stood on the runway with test pilot Gerry Sayer in the cockpit.
As it took to the skies to complete a 17-minute flight before coming back to land, those present were in no doubt about what it signified.
Whittle was the hero of the hour but the flight doesn't lead to a [jet engine] production during the war,"
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Sadly, the “Not Invented Here” resistance within our own defense establishment persists. Even worse, our adversaries (like the Nazis during WWII who produced jet fighters and were working on long range jet bombers before war’s end) don’t seem to be operating under the same constraints.
“The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies’ only jet aircraft to achieve combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor’s development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No. 616 Squadron RAF.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Meteor
“... doesn’t lead to a [jet engine] production during the war,”
But the Germans did produce two jet fighters late in the war.
Amazing what he did with the crappy metallurgy of the time.
Was just reading about him in “Rolling Thunder” Jet combat from WWII to the Gulf War. About 2/3 through and would recommend it.
Whittle’s jet and the Jumo 004 were two different approaches. Whittle’s engine was a centrifugal turbojet, which was mechanically simpler, but in the long term limited.
The German Junker Jumo 004 was an axial flow turbojet. Being lighter, it also required higher metallurgy for the turbine blades. Throw in tighter tolerances.
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