Who invented the jet engine?
The jet engine was invented independently by Frank Whittle in England and Hans von Ohain in Germany in the 1930s. Whittle, a Royal Air Force officer, patented his turbojet design in 1930.
Frank Whittle was born in Coventry in 1907. As a young RAF officer, he realized that a gas turbine engine could power aircraft faster and higher than propeller engines.
He patented his idea in 1930, but the British government showed little interest at first. Whittle formed a company, Power Jets, to develop the engine.
First flights
Whittle's first engine ran on a test bench in 1937. In Germany, von Ohain's engine powered the first jet aircraft flight, the Heinkel He 178, in 1939.
The first British jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39, flew in 1941 using Whittle's engine.
Jet engines powered aircraft such as the Gloster Meteor during World War II and transformed air travel after the war.
Whittle was knighted in 1948. He later moved to the United States and died in 1996. A statue of him stands in Coventry.