Whittle and the Jet Engine

Since the early 1930s, a young RAF officer, Frank Whittle, has championed a revolutionary idea: to propel an aircraft by a turbojet rather than a propeller. Holding a patent as early as 1930, he long preached in the wilderness, lacking funds and facing official scepticism. His small company, Power Jets, struggles to survive.

In the summer of 1939, his experimental engine at last runs convincingly on the test bench. The demonstrations draw the attention of a few Air Ministry officials, hitherto lukewarm. The question then arises of whether to bet seriously on this unproven technology.

The choice commits scarce resources on the eve of war. To fund and accelerate Whittle's project, ordering an experimental aircraft to test the jet in flight, at the risk of investing in a dead end? To leave the project at its own pace, continuing to stake everything on proven piston engines? Or to abandon it for lack of immediate results? The British aircraft industry is already under strain producing conventional fighters and bombers.