Frank Whittle...

[Richard]

...was only 21 when he perfected the concept of his jet engine? Wow!

Shortly thereafter, with the encouragement of the Air Ministry, he set up a shop to build the engine. Then in 1935 the Ministry decided to no longer fund his work. They reversed that decision in 1939.

All this while Heinkel began producing operational jet aircraft.


The above is from a program on the Military Channel. I knew some of the story of the Whittle engine--and have seen the two on display at the Planes of Fame Air Museum at KCNO Chino, CA--but wasn't aware of Whittle's young age and a few other things.

 

[Joe B]

Well, he may have been 21 when he came up with the concept (it was his graduate school thesis). It then took him nine years to get a working engine so I'd hardly say he'd "perfected" it at the outset. Impressive history regardless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle

"All this while Heinkel began producing operational jet aircraft."

Ahhh....no. The Military Channel at least ought to know what the term "operational' means. Sheesh.

The Heinkel He 178, which flew in 1939, was a prototype. The first operational jet was the Messerschmitt Me 262 which became operational sometime in the spring of 1944. Heinkel's first production jet, the He 162, did not become operational until February or March of 1945. By that time the British already had the Gloster Meteor in service.

 

[steingar]

An amazing man. Got inducted into their officer training corps despite being a commoner, quite a feat in its day. A complete daredevil, he was nearly court martialed for his aerobatics. His company developed the Jet engine on a shoe-string budget that was constantly running out of funds. The stress on him was so great he had a couple nervous breakdowns in the process.