Frank Whittle
1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996
Sir Frank Whittle (1907-1996) was a British Royal Air Force engineer air officer who invented the turbojet engine. He patented the concept in 1930 and developed the first working jet engine, which powered the first British jet aircraft flight in 1941. His pioneering work, alongside that of Hans von Ohain in Germany, ushered in the jet age of aviation.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Frank Whittle.
- Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002) Overlapped 89 years →
- Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) Overlapped 89 years →
- Ba Jin (1904–2005) Overlapped 89 years →
- Charlotte Perriand (1903–1999) Overlapped 89 years →
- Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997) Overlapped 89 years →
- Habib Bourguiba (1903–2000) Overlapped 89 years →
Life events
Frank Whittle was born in Coventry, the son of a mechanic and inventor.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle entered the RAF and trained as an aircraft mechanic apprentice at Cranwell before earning a place at the RAF College.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle set out the principles of turbojet propulsion and was granted his first patent for a turbojet engine in 1930.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle helped form Power Jets, a company established to develop his jet engine designs.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle's experimental turbojet engine, the WU, was first run successfully on a test bench.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgPowered by Whittle's engine, the Gloster E.28/39 made the first flight of a British jet aircraft.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in recognition of his invention of the jet engine.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle moved to the United States, where he later served as a research professor at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle was appointed to the Order of Merit, one of Britain's highest honours.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWhittle died of lung cancer at his home in Columbia, Maryland, at the age of 89.
Source: en.wikipedia.org