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Frank Whittle was born on the 1st of June 1907 in Coventry, the
son of a factory foreman; Whittle would prove to be ‘The Greatest
Aero- Engineer’ of the Century.
From humble beginnings Whittle joined the RAF on his third attempt
and went on to be a fine Pilot, if a bit of a daåre devil.
After writing a paper for his final exams on Rocket Propulsion,
one of Whittle’s commanding officers saw potential and encouraged
him to show his ideas to the relevant authorities. Unfortunately
they would not fund his ideas and so Whittle along with some of
his colleagues started up the company Power Jets Ltd. They spent
several years making engines and testing their ideas, based in Rugby
at this time. Then in 1938 they moved their test bed to Ladywood
Works in Lutterworth, where final testing and the 1st successful
flight of Gloster-Whittle E28/39 flew at Cranwell. Lutterworth was
where the final and perfected version of the engine was established
and where the company and Whittle remained until well established
mass production of the engine for use in the Second World War forced
Whittle to move his company in order to meet demand. Whittle was
knighted in 1948 when he retired from the RAF. Sir Frank will forever
be known as the ‘Father of Jet Propulsion’ and helped
put Lutterworth on the map.
A commemorative statue of Sir Frank can be found in the Memorial
Gardens in Lutterworth as well as a replicate plane on Whittle Island
just outside Lutterworth as a lasting tribute to his genius.
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