Frank Whittle
Born: June 1, 1907, Coventry, England
Died: August 8, 1996, Columbia, Maryland USA
Whittle joined the RAF in 1923 as an aircraft mechanic after he was rejected as pilot due to his lack of height and weight and it soon became clear that he was very skilled due to his proficiency in model making. He was recommended to RAF College Cranwell in 1926, opening the doors to a commision and a flying career; for his graduation he wrote a thesis on the development of aircraft, theorizing that piston engines would be replaced by motorjets - an afterburner powered by a piston engine. He graduated second in his class in July 1928.
Whittle continued to work on his engine idea but it received little interest as the Royal Aircraft Establishment (British equivalent to NACA) had already turned away A.A. Griffith for his idea of a turboprop. In 1929, Whittle was encouraged by his Commander to go to the Air Ministry with his concept but there was little interest as the general opinion was that the engine would not work.
On the 16th of January 1930, Whittle took out a patent for a jet engine (technically it was not the the first patent for a jet engine this was taken out by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 but never followed up on).
Later in 1930, a friend of Whittle arranged a meeting for Whittle with British Thompson-Houston (BTH) and while they were interested, the enormous cost of 60.000 pounds deterred them from building the engine.
Whittle continued working for the RAF but he was not able to continue his work on jet engines due to a lack of money, exemplified by the fact that in 1935 he couldn't afford the 5 pound renewal fee for the patent, letting it expire.
In 1935-36, he was contacted by old RAF comrades and friends and they convinced him to continue his work; together, they set up Power Jets Ltd. in the March of 1936 in Rugby, Warwickshire in rooms owned by BTH. Whittle, still a commissioned officer at the time, needed special permission from the RAF to work in his own company.
Power Jets built its first engine in April 1937, the WU (Whittle Unit), but the engine was unreliable and expensive which led to financial troubles for Power Jets Ltd.
Since there was little funding, progress slowed and Heinkel and v. Ohain overtook Whittle and Power Jets by 1938/39.
Whittle’s financial woes became so bad the Power Jets could barely keep operating leading to a decline in Whittle’s health (aided by his sever smoking habit and the abuse of benzedrine and sleeping pills); however, Whittles fortunes began to turn in mid 1939 as the Air Ministry began to inject cash into Power Jets. With this strong financial backing, the company was able to further develop engines resulting in the Power Jets W.1 tested for the first time on the 14 of December, 1940 and took its first flight in Gloster E.28/39 on the 15 of May, 1941 almost two years after the Heinkel 178; however, unlike Heinkel and Von Ohain, Whittle was not sidelined after his success but became an important part of the British jet program leading to the development of further Power Jet Ltd. engines and Planes like the Gloster Meteor.
Power Jets Ltd. was merged with the RAE in 1948 and Whittle had a successful career in Great Britain and the USA receiving many Awards, both military and civilian.